1 Year Surgiversary

Feb 01, 2018

I'm so excited!  Today is my 1 year Surgiversary!  I had RNY Gastric Bypass Surgery  1 year ago today at St. Joe's in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, with Dr. David Lindsay.

1 year ago today I was in severe pain and asking the nurse to move me to the psych wing because i was certain I needed help for voluntarily putting myself in that much pain.  Luckily she didn't take me seriousy and the pain eased a bit every day and the early pounds literally fell off and I quickly came to love my tiny new pouch. 

I was 304 Lbs when I'm started and now I'm 170.  I've lost 134 Lbs, and 103 inches, including 12 inches from my chest, 15 inches from my waist, and a whopping 17 inches from my hips.

I've made a lot of new habits in the past year.  I log everything I eat into my fitness pal. I try to stay active, which is much easier in the summer months, where it's easy for me to get hours of exercise every day.  Winter is a challenge but I try my best and have gone for my first winter walks in over 30 years this winter.

Early out, I depended on premier protein and I still drink it, except I use it as creamer in my decaf and herbal tea now.

I also depended on plain Greek Yogurt in the early days, and still eat it at least 3 times per week, usually as breakfast, mixed with berries and bran buds.

I still weigh and measure every item of food.  I never eat more than 1 cup of food per meal, as per my center's instructions.  I am mostly low carb, but did have a month long relaxation of the rules over the holidays.  

I take all of my vitamins and I drink all of my water.

My health is so much better.  I'm only on 1 asthma med now, and only need it when I have a cold or flu, or am exposed to allergens or extreme cold, which triggers my asthma. I used to need my rescue inhaler 4-5 times a day, and now I can go months without needing it.

I couldn't walk for 10 minutes before and now I can hike for hours. I can talk and breathe and climb hills, all at the same time.  I can swim and ride my bike.  My bike is my favorite, and I can't wait until spring so I can get out there again. I did my first overnight bike camping trip last summer and want to do a longer one this summer.

I've come a long way, but I'm not perfect.  My pre op food loving brain is alive and well, even though I had 6 lovely months where I felt absolutely no hunger.  I hate that the hunger came back, and I hate that the head hunger, or cravings came back too.

The other day all I could think about, and I mean all, was a glazed apple fritter. I wanted one so badly. I had no idea why. Then this morning I picked up a book I'm reading and opened it to the page I was last on,  and realized the book had triggered me. The characters were eating donuts, including apple fritters, lol. It's crazy how obsessive I became about apple fritters because of the book I'm reading, without even realizing that was why.  

I still have days where I feel fat. I have to look at old photos, or try on old clothes to remind myself of how far I've come.

I'm thrilled with the changes the past year, have brought and I'm not done yet.  My next mini goal is to get below 170, more specifically, to 165.  Then to 160. My stated goal is 145 but I want to see how I look at 160.  I can't afford plastic surgery and I don't want to hate how I look, loose skin wise. I may not look much different than I do now at 160, as I think I look pretty much the same at 170 as I did at 180, so we'll see.  I'd like to at least reach 155. 

I'm adding in some photos of me wearing my old clothes, and a before and after photo.  I was finally able to fit into one leg of my old pants, woohoo!

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