ObesityHelp

This year has been a dream come true, I lost 100lbs, 18" in the waist, went from a size 28W pants to a size 14, and yesterday I ran 3 miles without caughing up a lung, first time ever in my life! My body feels like a totally different body, I truly got a second chance at life.  

I notice it in the little things. For instance I have much better balance, I don't have that sick feeling of getting winded just from walking up some stairs, I have energy galore, I exercise 3 times a week on average and ENJOY it, and I like the look of me in the mirror. 

I--meaning my soul, consciousness, whatever "it" is--have not changed much at all. I didn't get a divorce or pickup some new addiction. I have more confidence, I am more outgoing, but I am still ME with the same aspirations and the same life, except for my relationship with food has totally changed.  

Food is not the center of my universe any more. I still enjoy cooking, I eat and digest pretty much everything I've tried. No problemo. Surgeon says my "food well-being" is perfect.  I don't get sick, I don't throw up. If I overeat I feel awful, and if I eat too fatty I get nauseated. I know this, so I try not to overeat or eat too fatty. Voilà! I don't have long bouts of either diahrrea or constipation although it happens sometimes just like it always did. I get hungry around mealtimes, but I don't have to eat the whole cow to feel satisfied. 

Any negatives? Nothing that can't be fixed. My surgeon--who has been wonderful and I would recommend him without any hesitation--isn't up on the whole VitD thing. Great with a scalpel, not interested in doing general medicine. He didn't prescibe any VitD supplementation right after surgery and let it go low. When I talked to him about it a couple of weeks ago he upped my supplementation a tiny bit and said check again in 6 months, nothing to worry about most people don't have enough VitD, relax lady.  I hate it when doctors do that! 

So I went to my general practitioner and told him either you help me or I order my megadoses of supplements from the US. He happens to take care of a lot of geriatric patients and knows all about VitD problems. He prescribed mega doses and wants me to test every 6 weeks. We'll keep trying different things until we get it right. I trust we'll figure it out soon enough if we monitor that closely. Next I'll try the sun+tanning booth, and if that doesn't work I'll have to import Vitalady's megadoses from the US. After that? Not sure, but I trust it won't get to that, but in case I'll keep checking every 6 weeks. 

My advice to newbies? Pick a surgeon who you trust to deal with problems should they arise. My surgeon had a big surprise when he started giving me a sleeve last year as my body wasn't taking the staples at all. He had to open me up and give me a RNY instead. That turned my 1hr surgery to 3.5hrs. When he told me what happened I wanted to die. I felt horrible and I always had a really bad attitude about the RNY. But what were my choices really? It was done and I was alive, so I fought and I won. I don't have regrets, I would do it all over again, but I'd rather not as the first month post surgery feels horrible. Another piece of advice is do your blood lab work faithfully. It's expensive in the US, but you have to keep up. I don't feel like I have a VitD deficiency, and I wouldn't feel it until my teeth started falling out and my bones got brittle. Then it's too late. Do your labs! 

My goals for the upcoming year are: 
1. Lose another 20lbs. I should really lose 40lbs to get to my ideal weight, but I doubt I will and I'm not about to beat myself up over it.  
2. Get to 35" waist. 2.5" more to lose! 
3. Get to the point where I can run a 5k often for exercise. 
4. Continue strength training. 
5. Enjoy the journey! 

I plan on sending my surgeon a thank you fax today. He's not perfect, but he's made it possible for me to turn my life around, I am extremely grateful to him for that. WLS rocks!