ObesityHelp

It was my 1 year surgiversary yesterday!!

From 316 to 187... From a size 26/28 to a size 10.

It's kind of a weird place to be in because I am super happy with my size and my body right now, but I'm still technically overweight and could lose another 28 pounds to get to "normal". I've been this weight for about 5 months, so it seems like this could be a stall or this could be it. I don't know, and I really don't care right now. Is that weird?

I'm just enjoying every minute of shopping at the "real" stores, of looking at things and thinking they won't fit to find out not only do they fit but I could go down another size, wearing super cute high heeled shoes all day and not waking up in terrible pain the next day, and being able to just do anything I want to be it skating, biking, fitting into the airplane seat, or whatever I want really!!

I'm a dumper so I'm careful to avoid that. I eat 4 meals a day in general, drink protein shakes only when I have to, and take 9 vitamins and 1 allergy pill every day. I'm healthy for the first time in at least 18 years, which is almost half my life. I'll take it!

Thank you RNY!! And, thank you to all my friends and awesome mentors for giving me the information and support to be able to make it this far!! :D

Huggles!!
~Sarah~
 

Last night, my darling steppy kid who works at Lane Bryant brought me presents! Some shorts and a top that were on clearance... One pair of shorts was a 16 and 2 were 14s... I was so excited to have a pair of 16s that I could wear and not feel like my clothes are falling off... I tried it on, and I was right, fits beautifully, a little loose around the waist but I always have that problem when I'm thin...

Then she says, I want you to try on the 14s too... I laughed. There's no way I said. But, I put them on. I sucked in my gut and snapped those babies up. Now, sure, they are so tight, I probably would have to stop breathing to wear them in public, but I got them on, snapped and zipped. I couldn't believe it. In a couple weeks, I'll probably be wearing them like they fit the whole time.

Unbelievable!! :D 

OMGosh, and yesterday I ate protein pudding that I made with vanilla sugar free pudding mix, skim milk, and a scoop of vanilla protein. It was A-MAZING!! If you haven't tried that, you definitely should! It was AWESOME!! :D 

Huggles!!
~Sarah~

... and if it doesn't, you aren't really venting...

Today, I'm a bit frustrated... Over something someone else did. It happens... On these boards, we meet all kinds of people- those that are happy with their surgeries, those that aren't happy with their surgeries, and so on... And, we let those people have free access to posting as many topics as they want on the message board. But, when someone posts about how unhappy they are with their surgery, waits 5 minutes, doesn't get a reply and makes another post about how unhappy they are... and keep doing this for a half an hour complaining over and over that they didn't know what they were getting into or their dr screwed something up or they hate the food restrictions they are living under or really whatever else they need to vent over...it just starts to wear on me, and turn me into the eye rolling version of myself.

Now, I really don't like the eye rolling version of myself, she's certainly not my favorite version of myself. But, this is a message board for adults who exhibit adult behavior. They won't let you have this surgery unless you are 18 so that pretty much settles it that this is pretty much an adult environment. And, I don't know any adults in my life who throw tantrums and stomp their feet until enough people pay attention to them to satisfy their desire in that moment. To me, this person was NOT interested in "Venting". This person was throwing a tantrum and demanding we all watch it. I didn't watch my daughter have a tantrum when she was 3 and I'm certainly not going to watch some random adult I don't even know throw one now- no matter how much I might feel for her situation and wish there was some way to make it better...

To me, this was/is clearly attention seeking behavior. And, to fully blow out of proportion even fuller the tantrum, this person deactivated themself from OH, admonishing us all for being all smiley and happy no matter what bad things come into our lives whether related to our surgeries or not... And, maybe to some people, that's a bad thing... but, not to me. I'd rather look at the positive side of things. I especially prefer to tell myself that what I am going through is normal and that it WILL pass soon than to sit and wallow in my misery and let everything compound into something far worse. In the end, I think this person needs some major counseling, possibly some anti depressants, and a much smaller volume button on their microphone...

Whew!! And, see... now that I have vented about that, I feel better, and I can let it go and move on...

Huggles!!
~Sarah~

Apologies in advance if for some reason a man ends up reading this post...

I think I just need to vent this out...

In 4 weeks and 2 days, I have lost about 24 pounds... Before that pre op, I lost 50 pounds... So, I've lost a significant amount of weight... But, these last 4 weeks have left me with a major problem... In the past 4-6 weeks (I don't really remember exactly when I measured), I have lost 6 inches of my bra band size... from a 44 to a 38... and I've only lost 2 inches from my chest measurement... (From a 54 to a 52)

So, my bras are fitting sloppy in a major bad way, I can't really afford to get new ones, and because it's sloppy, my back is killing me... Now, most of the time, I hang out in the house bra-less cuz I just don't care... But, if I put the dang bra on and wear it somewhere, my back complains about it from about 45 minutes after I put it on till about 45 minutes after I take it off... Not to mention there's enough extra room in my k cups I could put a softball in each one and still have room for my keys and cell phone...

I was REALLY hoping that my band size and chest measurement would go down in a proportionate way so that I could avoid this... Once upon a time, I was a SUPER busty average sized chick, and it appears I'm right back on my way to that top heavy figure I had before...

How much does a breast reduction cost again?? 

:(

Huggles!!
~Sarah~

I can't believe it's been 4 weeks since I had my surgery. I just figured I'd take the time to write another one of my, "Where am I now" type posts!

 Physically, I feel great, I have a lot of energy when I'm awake! I'm still napping or sleeping in depending on whether I had a nap the day before. I have no need for pain pills although the Hiatal Hernia Repair in my shoulder does sometimes still twinge a little to tell me I drank too much at once. My incisions are all healing nicely. The 2 largest incisions still have 2 tiny scabs left on them, but the rest have healed over and are looking great!

 I've lost 24 pounds since the surgery, and quite a few inches, including 3 off my waist and 2 off my chest! My under chest measurement has gone down almost 6 inches, which is pretty impressive as well...

Emotionally, I am doing pretty well! I generally have been trying anything soft that sounds or smells good... I have put quite a bit of stuff into the puree machine (including my beloved tacos, lol). So far, I haven't gotten anything stuck, or had any kind of gastrointestinal rejection of anything I've introduced to the system! I'm quite regular which can be a huge problem after surgery and have not had too much gas, which is also good.

I do not feel hungry. I do not feel full. I do not have thoughts about food unless I smell something I want or especially don't want. So, that is a pretty weird thing for me. I am eating with the family at this point, but not always eating what they are having... IE... I made a noodle free lasagna Wed night. I also cooked a pot of elbow noodles for them. I ate the lasagna without the noodles, they mixed theirs with the elbow noodles. It was a great compromise and the leftovers haven't gotten soggy in the fridge! So, we are working it out!

I think I did "dump" once when I put half a banana and half a serving of peanut butter in my protein shake. It was a weird feeling, and a very unpleasant one. I ended up sleeping it off. I was a little skittish to have another protein shake after that, but I'm fine.

As far as my protein and water go, it is a struggle every day to get enough protein and water. I have made it quite a few times on the water, but not once on the protein. 100 grams of protein is a LOT when you can only eat 1/2 a cup at a time, lol... I need to get in the groove of drinking a protein drink in the mornings to get me headed in the right direction. Protein is what I'm working on these days!

Other than that, I'm able to do what I want to do, like walk all over the mall, or the neighborhood! I'm able to go with the family to anywhere they are all going. I can sit in any of the couches in the house now! AND, I can feel my hip bones and if I put my head just right, I can see my collar bones... Both of those are pretty strange for me, lol...

Yesterday, it was weigh day and I FORGOT to weigh myself, which is pretty amazing! I'm feeling so well that I am not developing any kind of scale obsession.

I've had some stress with my sewing machine breaking in the middle of a project and so on, but none of the stress I have been going through has sent me to the fridge, so that is good! I still find my major trigger to eat when I should not is boredom. More than anything, I need to break the habit of opening the fridge door when I'm bored. Lately, I've just been opening it, looking in, closing it and walking away. That's better than before, but still not good enough! But, I'm getting there...

So, yeah, I'm all sunshine and rainbows now, lol...In 2 more weeks, I'll be able to go swimming, immerse myself in a bathtub, and go bowling! I am trying to think of a way to do all 3 things on one day, lol...

Huggles!!
~Sarah~