My life 2 years after

My life 2 years after the day my husband told me he thought I stopped breathing sometimes at night:  I no longer have sleep apnea, my blood sugars (which were creeping up) are normal, I have tons of energy, and I am  still committed to the promises I made when I decided to have VSG. My surgery was on March 4, 2013 at Kaiser in South San Francisco. I lost 105 pounds from my consult weight and have been maintaining at 102-105 pounds since December 2013. I lost all my weight by October, but it took two more months of gradually increasing calories for me to find the place where I would stop losing. For me, the magic number right now is around 1400 calories, and I mostly still have to work hard and plan to make sure I get them all in.  During weight loss, I followed the very low carb, high protein, low calorie camp and lost weight every week.  I limited my weighing to once a week because I knew I would obsess about it if I got on the scale every day.  

My commitments: follow the pre-op meal plan suggested in my program, track my calories, excercise, and go to support group. I was given my preop diet at my first appointment and started it that day.  Low carb, low fat, around 1200 calories a day and only 3 meals a day, plus a planned snack if needed to get calories in. No peas, no corn, no pasta, no rice, no baked goods except well toasted bread or crackers. Small amounts of potato or sweet potato. While I have had the occasional piece of birthday cake or taste of a special dessert, I have to say that I am following the meal plan. I am lucky that I don't miss carbs as long as I'm not eating them, so it is still not a hardship to skip the pizza, pasta, etc. it has now been 17 months since I ate pizza!  I track my calories using MFP. Greatest invention ever! I go to 2 support groups in Sonoma county, one sponsored by Kaiser and the other one sponsored by a local surgeon. Each of them meets once a month and I go if I am not out of town. Even the Kaiser one, which I dreaded because it meant Imhad to go back there for a meeting after being there all day. And I am always glad I go. It's just like exercise, but for my mind and soul.  Physical exercise has been up and down. I am in limbo now due to a degenerative condition in my hamstring where it inserts into my "sit bones". I literally have a pain in my ass because of three stupid tendons. This has been a problem off and on for years, but has been very much ON for about 5 months. I do not ever sit down at work and I cannot run or walk on anything other than flat terrain. Sitting in the car is painful. Flying is a nightmare. Thank goodness for Valium! It is the only reason I was able to fly nonstop SFO to JFK last month without getting arrested. I probably need to give up on running and learn to swim.

I know that I have had a very easy time so far and that there is still a lifetime of struggle ahead of me, and I hope to continue to have the strength to come out on top. I will lose some battles, for sure, but I will keep fighting to maintain this healthy version of me. I thank every one of you who take the time to share your stories and advice. I have not been around here much the last couple of months because of crazy busy life, but I do still try to keep up with how people are doing. I will be going to the OH conference next month. I went last year and found a lot if inspiration, including getting to meet my heroine, Elina. 

Anyway,that's how my life has changed in the last 2 years. I wish you all success in your journeys.

Oops! Need to update the tracker. I turned 55 at the end of June.

CONGRATULATIONS!!! It is so nice to hear a huge success story such as yours! I truly can't wait until I can post similar to what your doing! Keep up the excellent work... and please keep us newbies focused by sharing! 

Thanks for sharing!  We newbies need words like hours!

Very nice story, well except the bum pain. Truly inspirational indeed. Congrats!

Inspirational!!!! Thank you :)

You've had really great success!  Congrats on your hard work.