When do/did you start 'living' again?

I am asking this for myself, but I also think this can make for an interesting topic. I think there are probably a lot of fantastic opinions on this topic and that's exactly what I need!

I promised myself that this year would be all about my health. I am usually wrapped up in several jobs, lots of tasks... I'm a very motivated and proactive person. But this year... I feel almost sluggish compared to my norm, because I am almost SOLELY putting my mental efforts into this journey.

Everyone says the first year is crucial to building good habits and getting the weight off... and I am working hard and have had (IMO) a lot of success. I have learned to cook (my house is full of more spices than I thought existed), I am in control of my portions, I eat very healthy 98% of the time (dense protein first, veggies).

But that being said... it takes WORK - A TON of mental work compared to my previous efforts!! I have made it my #1 priority and set almost everything else aside, but some day I am going to have to start 'living' life again. My antsiness is making me want to start living SOONER than LATER... but I fear that if I do, I will slip into bad habits or screw myself over. I know I am "in control of my own actions" and "it's all up to me," but it's still a fear. I almost feel like I'll have to keep this up until I reach goal, but then again.. at goal I will have to learn to MAINTAIN, and that's probably even MORE work!

What are your thoughts on this? Have you started living? If so... are you managing, or no? If you are, has it become routine, or how did you learn to balance being proactive in OTHER areas of your life as well as your weight struggle?

Great question Elena - because this does happen.  Soon the world will not care so much about "how much did you lose"? or "can you eat that"?  Soon...it will no longer be all about you and your surgery.  Life does go on.  Which is good I think.  You do need to stay focused or maintenance will slip, but I can say after 6 years, time does go by when I don't hear one comment about my weight or having had WLS.  ANd you know....that's just fine with me.  Like Darla mentioned in a prior post about her co-worker talking to her about nothing else but weight...it does get old.

I pop on here and lurk...post once in a while when I have something to say...but soon for you and others around a year or so out...life will start again and your journey won't be such a novelty anymore.  Don't lose sight of what you need to do to stay healthy, but soon life as a post-op will be a habit and other parts of your life will be more important.  Once in a while people comment on how good I still look, or surgery comes up when someone notices I didn't eat a lot at lunch...those are the people who never knew me fat and they are surprised to hear my story.  I still "out" myself occasionally.  If only they DID know my history!  I'll comment once in a while about growing up as a fat kid and being on a diet all the time and they just look at me puzzled.  Once again that tells us that you never know where a person comes from when looking at them today.

Be aware Elena...but don't focus on the fear of failure.  Start "living"  whenever you're ready.  You may gain a few pounds down the road, but they can come off again if they need to.  They did for me.  Don't miss out on anything.  The time is now!  Just go for it.

Good Luck and have fun!  

 

Thanks Lori!! I really REALLY appreciate your response!! I needed to hear that! I know people say "well, you should already be living".. but I DO feel like the first year after surgery is very intensive. There are a lot of things I want to do... go to school again, job changes, possibly move, but I have been holding back on those because I want to focus on my health FIRST. I just hope there will come a time - maybe when I get to goal, near goal, or get used to healthy habits, when I can start doing those things and not have them negatively affect my health.

I've never stopped.  It's just a different life.  Life brings changes...in some ways more than others.  We get older, we make new friends, our bodies change (WLS or not), and we adapt.  We pick up new habits, new routines, new everyday tasks, everything is changing and there is nothing we can do about it.  We learn we have a new condition based on a blood test...we try desparately to make our bodies healthy without going nutz....

Life brings new adventures all the time....that's what makes living so much fun.  But now I have a new lease.  I've lost a quarter ton (almost)...I can cross my thighs, I don't care if I get the middle seat on a plane, I can go skiing again, I'm making new friends, people pay attention to what I say, women (some anyway) turn their heads to look twice, or take a second to hold a door....or invite me out with their groups after work....things that never happened b4....

But the downside....I sometimes am tired of rules.  I'm tired of having to think through the meal plan for the day.  I'm tired of having to explain my limits.  I'm tired of not being able to indulge every once in a while.  But would I trade it?  Never.

Change happens.  It really does not have that much to do with WLS.  How we (or I) cope with change is what is different.  I'm in a much better position to handle change than I was 200+ lbs ago.  That sucked.  It sucked that I could not find clothes...I was even too big for the big and tall stores.  Now I can shop anywhere.  I feel beeter equipped now.

So now I'm totally rambling.  What was the question again?  

P

In many ways, I started living shortly after WLS!  All the wonderful new friends that have come into my life, forcing myself to get up early on Saturday mornings just to drink coffee with a bunch of you - seriously?  That's more living than I had done in a long time!  I was never a slug, but this surgery has brought a whole new dimension to my life.

I am approaching my 2 year anniversary.  I tell you what, even a YEAR ago, that sounded forever away!  I'm still working on losing - I don't consider myself a grad or to be maintaining.  (Although I have sort of maintained my current weight, within 3-4 pounds, for MONTHS, which is pretty amazing and exciting, even tho I'm not quite where I want to be yet!)

Paul is right - life keeps on coming, things keep on changing, like it or not.  So if what you mean is, have I started living life with my WLS?  Absolutely.  Is it an afterthought?  Absolutely NOT.  It is getting less common to hear the comments about my weight loss, although there are plenty of people I don't see often who will be shocked when they do see me, and I know it'll bring a smile to my face. 

I just don't ever want to forget where I came from, or what I need to be mindful of to stay healthy.  That's why I got my butterfly tattoo right on my hand - it's forever, it's right where I can see it 24/7.  It'll NEVER be far from my vision - it may sometimes allow things into my pie-hole that don't belong there, but that's why I'm a big believer in forgiveness.  Every day is a new beginning.