What? the title didn't make much sense?

Let me explain. I am a year and a half out form my Roux-n-Y gastric bypass surgery. Almost a year (about 10 months) out from the weight just seemingly coming off like magic. So, I've had about 10 months of working out, counting calories, weighing myself every Sunday, shrinking clothes and dropping inches. Yet, some things still awe and shock me. Like:

1. These shoes:

Even a year ago, I wouldn't have been able to get my feet into something like these, forget trying to walk. Now, I can go a full day in them at work, walk around, run to the bathroom, meetings etc. without killing my feet, my back or my legs.

2. Space between my thighs: Jeff took a photo of me in all green the other day and the first thing my sister said was, hey you can see between your legs. Well, you know how she meant it :-) And, it's nice to walk without hearing that swish swish sound, y'all know exactly what I am talking about.
 

3. Fitting into seats: My car seat, my work chair, airplane seats, movie theater seats, amusement park ride seats, name a seat and you got it. I don't feel like a beached whale trying to fit into a toddler's stroller anymore. Last week, I got into my car, looked down and saw half my seat. A year ago, not so much.

4. Self consciousness: Well, I am still pretty self conscious but now I think it's because of the bad fashion choices maybe, not because I look like a beached whale trying to fit into a kid's stroller. I don't feel like everyone's looking at me to try and see how the hell am I going to make it through the turnstile or the revolving doors.

5. I can run: I might not look pretty or graceful but I don't look like a beached whale running while trying to fit into a toddler's stroller. A couple weeks ago, Jeff and I were leaving to go somewhere and we had a bag of trash to be taken out. The dumpster's about 500 feet away, for which I usually throw the trashbag in my car and drive it up if I am on my way out. I told Jeff he could meet me in the car up there and I'd walk it up. I ran that trash up and beat Jeff and his car! And, I was barely out of breath. And, that was some heavy m-effing trash.

This post has been a long time coming. It should have been writtenw hen I first made the decision to get this surgery and had people commenting anonymously about it beign the easy way out and the repurcussions etc. And, now, people are saying things like "I think people who get gastric bypass are taking the easy way out. I understand why people do it but I have a really hard time respecting their results. It's not like I look at them and think, "Wow, you worked SO HARD to get that skinny."" Well, time to set the record straight. And, don't bother commenting that that wasn't aimed at me. It was aimed at everybody who's had gastric bypass and that includes me.

1. You don't get "skinny" automatically with gastric bypass. Most people lose 50-70% of their excess body weight within a year and then it's up to the person. Which measn that somebody with a BMI of over 40 (which I was) can get down from severely obese to maybe the upper end of overweight within a year. Which means I am still fighting with 40-50 lbs of fat, which is more for people who go in with more excess weight. I was maybe at the lower end of the weight spectrum of the people I saw at my doctor's office.

2. The 1st year of weight loss, which might seem seamless and easy to most people is anything but. Somebody who's dieting and excercising can cheat and eat some chocolate or drink a shake and go through a guilt trip later. Somebody who's had gastric bypass has a piece of chocolate or a nice thick shake and they get chills, sweats, nausea, debilitating cramps sometimes. I would say it's harder after having had gastric bypass because I have to consciously think of every morsel and every sip that gets past my lips. Because I can't just say to myself, "oh, I had this piece of dessert, I guess I'll run an extra half mile in the morning or do 20 more crunches." Because sometimes that extra morsel or sip could land me back in the hospital. I also have to go to the gym, unless I wan't excess skin jsut hanging off my ass, arms and legs. The initial weight loss is too fast for the body's skin to keep up with. So, the gym it was, 2-3 times a week, with a trainer, so I can be sure I am doing the right things for myself.

3. Past the first year, now I am only at BMI 29.9. Yay, not obese anymore. But, the work's not done yet. I go to the gym 3-5 times a week. I run, do strength training, weight lifting, swim, whatever I can. Because if I don't, I don't lose weight. Worse still, I have heard stories of people who regain after this surgery. I am still fat. I need to work harder now to lose the rest of it.

4. Beyond the constant care of what we're eating and drinking, then there are the health issues. I take multivitamins, iron, calcium citrate and protein supplements daily. I get a Vitamin B12 shot monthly. I'll do this for the rest of my life. And yes, that was my decision. But, don't you dare tell me it was an easy decision.

So, yes, made a decision that to some people, might seem like the easy way out. But, it wasn't. It just gave me a tool to use for the rest of my life. It gave me a starting point that I could work with. Maybe I could have done it without the surgery. But, a whole six months of supervised diet, excercise and prescription medicines under my primary care physician didn't help. Actually, a whole 8 years of yo-yoing despite gyms, personal trainers, what diet can you name that I didn't try ... and I was ready for something drastic. And, I wasn't willing to lose more of my life and time to fat. To failing some more. To being depressed any longer.

Gastric Bypass has yet to make somebody "skinny" without effort. To be skinny even now after the surgery, I am going to have to work harder than ever in my life. So, do some research and get your facts straight. If, after that, your views don't sway even a bit, well I guess everybody's entitled to their blind prejudices.