Roller coasters and low blood pressure

Kings Dominion was fantastic!!!!! Even though there were a couple of rides I wouldn't try out of fat fear, for the most part I rode what I wanted and walked all day with no pain. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and outlasted most of the teenage girls I was with. I am grateful for that. I didn't realize how much I missed living until I soaked up the day on the drive home.

Here is a post I put out on OH about low blood pressure, been having some issues with it and wanted to post reasons, remedies on here so I won't lose it.

I have seen this come up over and over on this forum and I have just started experiencing this almost 18 months post op. I have had low blood pressure (90/70 range) since surgery but none of the side effects like dizziness and so forth. I have been doing some research and have found some of the more common reasons this happens to us.

Dehydration - this is a big one, anything less than 64 oz a day is not enough

Low iron levels or anemia - get your labs done

Low electrolytes - A G2 or powerade zero will fix this one

Lack of B12 - any of the B vitamins really

There was also low oxygen and thyroid problems, along with a lot of more serious reasons for low blood pressure but the above pretty much explain why after weight loss surgery, this happens.

For me, I thought, hey beats high blood pressure but this is not true...low blood pressure can still cause heart attack, stroke and kidney failure.

So along with fixing the above vitamin and water issues, here are some home remedies and recommendations I came across that might be helpful.

If the water and vitamin issues are not in check, avoid vigorous excercise as it can cause black outs

Breathing excercises and low impact excercise like swimming and biking are good for getting the blood pumping nicely

Fresh fruit, increased protein with fluids, vitamin c and vitamin b

Raw beetroot juice and epsom salt baths

The dizziness, halos around the eyes, tired are just too much for me and I don't like not feeling in control so I am going to work on this for sure.

That's it!

I keep saying that's it...starting right now, no more grazing, no more snacking, no more junk food. I wake up, I have a protein shake, eggs for breakfast, some type of meat for lunch, maybe an afternoon cheese sick and by the time I get home the bottom falls out. I can't get a handle on snacking on stuff, even when I am choosing low carb, I am still taking in more calories and carbs than I need because I am eating every hour on the hour. I say I am going to the gym but I don't go. I cut out the G2, extra carbs, I cut out the creamer because of extra carbs. I am still stuck at 250-255. I think I have hit the mental part of this journey and I need to get a handle on it. I am taking my kids to Kings Dominion tomorrow and the weight limit for most rides is 250 lbs, 45 inch waist. That's me...I said I was going to do a liquid diet this week, see if I could drop a few pounds before the trip just to be safe because I didn't want to still be too fat for the rides. I could so do a liquid diet as I NEVER get hungry but my head hunger wins every time. I think I just love food, the texture, the taste but I also think I am totally self sabotaging because heck I don't deserve to be happy as former fat girl tells me all the time. I thought I had a handle on this but I obviously don't. Time to shift gears again. I think I am going to order the Beck diet solution book and workbook and start there. I can not let this defeat me.

One bite at a time

So I have been really looking at what I am eating, counting everything trying to balance good eating skills with low carb so I can still lose weight. My sodium intake is out of control. I think on top of the vit D issues, I am retaining water from the sodium. But my blood pressure has been so low, my doc says eat salt, don't worry about your sodium. Ugghh! I am going to reduce it, if I begin having any low blood pressure incidents like dizziness, i will see my doctor. This is what I ate yesterday and my ending totals:

Morning: 16 oz cup of coffee w/ creamer
Breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs w/ cheese no added salt or pepper
Snack; 1 oz beef jerky, slice of cheese
Lunch:1/4 chicken quesadillia on low carb tortilla w/ spoonful salsa/sour cream
Snack: 1 oz beef jerky
Dinner: Inside of subway club, no bread
Dessert: 1/2 slice angel food cake, topped with 2 sliced strawberries and splenda
snack: spoonful peanut butter
Cals Fat Cholest Sodium Carbs Sugars Fiber Protein
1,055 49g 592mg 3,599mg 58g 42g 6g 90g

I feel like I ate a balanced diet, the beef jerky is definitely going to have to go, my carbs aren't great for losing phase but they aren't bad either. I think considering some of the things I have gone through with my eating, I think I made good choices and I am proud of that. This is a lifestyle change for me and I will figure it out, one day at a time, one bite at a time.

In a funk

This sucks! I can not budge my weight loss. I thought my G2 and creamer was the problem so I cut it out. 80 oz water a day, gym, low carb and this is what the last month looks like:

2/24 263
3/3 257
3/11 265
3/17 259
3/24 259
3/31 257
4/7 261

So what happened after the scale yesterday morning.... I have been on a binge. I have been reading on the vitamin issues and came across some info that low Vit D causes sugar cravings and weight gain. Hmmm...could this be the problem?? It has got to be something. A month and only a 3 lb loss. I guess I shouldn't complain, better than gaining. Just in a funk..

Reevaluating

So I kicked up the liquid intake to try to offset this dehydration thing. Still trying to figure out my labs. Looks like I am low on ferritin even though my other iron levels look good, Vit D (on my second round of 50,000 units a week) getting ready to add D3 as I understand this is better than just plain ole D.
So even with the increase in liquid, staying away from bad carbs and hitting the gym again, I am still stuck in the 250's. Up 5, down 5! What is the problem? So I decided to track everything that went in my mouth today. Well I see where the problem is!! My G2 and hazelnut creamer...Damn liquid calories! They have never phased my weight loss before but I think they are the culprit now. I said if I ever needed to adjust what I was doing, I will. Starting tomorrow I will drastically decrease my creamer in my coffee and totally give up my G2's for a bit. What? You didn't expect me to go cold turkey did you? I hate water but this is a must. I suspect to be able to report a huge loss next posting.

Vitamin issues and BUN creatinine

Had my labs done back in November by my PCP and my Vitamin D and iron was low. She put me on 50,000 units once a week for 3 months. I changed my multi vitamin to a prenatal vitamin for the extra iron. Went back for my follow up on my labs last week. Vitamin D is still low, she put me back on 50,000 units for 3 more months. Iron was ok this go round, B12 was a little high. Reduced my 2500 mcg to every other day versus every day. I expected the ups and downs with the vitamins as I have read about them on OH. What I have never heard of was BUN (Blood urea nitrogen) creatinine levels. My BUN level and my creatinine levels were within normal range. My BUN creatinine ratio was 29. This scared me at first because I was told this tests your kidney function. But I have since learned that the jump is probably from an increase in protein and slight dehydration. I am not drinking 64 oz a day but I am getting in close to 60 oz, but that is with my coffee too, which the caffeine is not helping from what I am hearing. This is what labtestsonline had to say about BUN levels:
5. What is a BUN/Creatinine ratio?
Occasionally, a doctor will look at the ratio between a person’s BUN and blood creatinine to help them determine what is causing these concentrations to be higher than normal. The ratio of BUN to creatinine is usually between 10:1 and 20:1. An increased ratio may be due to a condition that causes a decrease in the flow of blood to the kidneys, such as congestive heart failure or dehydration. It may also be seen with increased protein, from gastrointestinal bleeding, or increased protein in the diet. The ratio may be decreased with liver disease (due to decrease in the formation of urea) and malnutrition.
This makes me even more thankful I got my VSG. I knew I would not be 100% compliant with RNY and the malabsorption scared me so I know if I had gone that route, my issues would be worse. The congestive heart failure aspect scares me because this puts me right in line with all my dad's illness' but I am going to remain positive that this is from lack of fluid and my body freaking out over losing a great amount of weight. I am increasing my fluid and trying to incorporate regular water into my diet besides drinking nothing but G2, juice and coffee. Gah! I hate water....sigh

Things I have learned after one year...

Today is my one year anniversary of my surgery. I have lost 120 lbs total. I have lost and regained the same five pounds for 3 months now. Totally my fault. My head is trying to catch up with the weight loss, I have been making excuses for not eating right, money, time, stress. Whatever! They are horrible reasons to not use this gift I have been given. I have learned a few things along the way... I can eat way more now than I could in the beginning. Granted it is no where near pre op but more than a few months out of surgery. Before surgery I would go to McDonald's and order a filet of fish, a Big Mac meal w/ Large sweet tea and a double cheeseburger. Today when I go to McDonald's, I order the chicken nuggets happy meal, eat about 1/2 the fries and about 3 nuggets. Big difference. I have learned that I can eat a lot if I let myself graze. This is not a smart thing to do. I can get in just as many calories when I graze as I did pre op. Scary huh? Like yesterday...I am ashamed to post this but I just want you to know it is possible to consume as much food post op as pre op if you spread it out versus 3 meals and 2 snacks VSG portions... I had one egg and 4 pieces of bacon for breakfast. Ate about half the egg and 2 pieces of bacon...about 30 minutes later I was able to finish it. I started on a ziploc bag of cashews about 10;30am, munched on them off and on all day. Had a hershey bar in my desk, broke off a piece here and there, finished it off my end of day also. Lunch I had a chicken pot pie, could only eat about a third of it and about 30 minutes later, I took those last few bites and finished it off. While cooking dinner I had a bite of carrot cake. For dinner I had 1 hamburger patty, spoonful of mac and cheese and 8 french fries. I ate off that plate for an hour and got it all down! Later that night while watching tv, I had another bite of cake, 30 min later I had a 2 oz bowl of cereal, 30 min later I had a half a cookie. That is a LOT of food. Lesson from all this, once you are full, throw away the rest of the dang food or put it up for the next meal. In order to stay on track and keep on losing:
DO NOT NIBBLE ON THE SAME PLATE FOR MORE THAN 15 MINUTES.
DO NOT EAT BETWEEN DESIGNATED MEAL AND SNACK TIME
PROTEIN FIRST, VEGETABLE SECOND, CARBS LAST
DO NOT DRINK FOR AT LEAST 30 MINUTES AFTER YOU EAT
DRINK AT LEAST 64 OZ OF WATER EVERYDAY
DO SOME FORM OF EXCERCISE FOR AT LEAST 15 MINUTES A DAY

Those are pretty basic and simple. Staying on track and breaking old habits is hard as hell!
I am not where I am supposed to be but THANK GOD I am not where I used to be which is 381 lbs, size 30/32, unable to walk from my car to my office without being out of breath, unable to shop in Walmart unless I used a scooter. Today I can do all those things and more, I have not used a scooter since surgery, I weigh 255 lbs and in a size 22/24. I have a ways to go but I will get there.