5 year WLS anniversary (with pictures)
(deactivated member)
on 5/13/11 6:36 am
on 5/13/11 6:36 am
You look wonderful. Your pictures are great. I am six years out. As you said maintance is hard. I have gained 12 pounds from my goal/low weight. I still struggle to keep it off. I am going to increase my walking and hopefully gym exercise to get it back off. I am 66 (older than you) and I bet shorter (5'1".)
I am still in the closet about my wls so can not put pictures on here.
Ruby
rny 3/2005
262/125/136
hi/lo/today
I am still in the closet about my wls so can not put pictures on here.
Ruby
rny 3/2005
262/125/136
hi/lo/today
Following your walks on facebook has been inspirational, but these photos surely speak volumes!! Every WLS patient should have people like you to look up to!! You are truly an inspiration!!
Continue the fabulous work! And good gravy what are you feeding that son of yours--he has grown like a weed!
Take good care!
Denise
Continue the fabulous work! And good gravy what are you feeding that son of yours--he has grown like a weed!
Take good care!
Denise
Check out my blog--menumealplanning.com. Tales of making meal planning managable, family fodder, and everything else under the sun.
RNY 2/3/09, LBL/BL w/Augmentation 9/16/11
Start weight: 335 Current weight: 185 Goal weight: Whatever the hell I can maintain without driving myself insane!
*6.5 lost preop
Thank you to everyone for the wonderful responses to my WLS anniversary. I appreciate it and the encouragement from this message board that I always receive, even if just from reading messages.
In response to question of "what was the most difficult challenge to maintaining your weight loss?", I underestimated how much I had to learn about self-care and coping, even as an adult with a college degree in phychology and many years of therapy. ; )
While the weight was coming off during the 14 months it took me to get to goal, the excitement of those life changes was enough to keep me motivated and busy with all kinds of new adventures in a lighter body. But underneath it all, I did not do a good enough job of finding GOOD, healthy, and reliable replacements for the coping that I used food for.
Once I was 3 or so years into this process, I had a lot of challenges in my family life (unrelated to the surgery or weight loss). My son encountered some real struggles that left me completely lost and unable to deal with things. I turned to food, both as comfort and as punishment. And as the weight came back on, I believed it was a sign that I deserved to be unhappy, that I was not good enough to live any other way.
In the last two years, I have finally made some real strides in understanding what my basic needs are and how to best respond to them. It is NOT easy. Every day, I am chased by "the old stuff" and the old habits that support that "stuff". But I made a deal with myself that I will live at the edge of my comfort zone for as long as it takes... until it doesn't feel like the edge anymore. I wish I knew when that was going to be!
In addition to the "inside" work that is constant, I had to really decide that I was happier and more physically comfortable without the extra weight on me. I had a nice taste of what it was like to live in a lighter body and I wanted that back. So I have to be willing to surround myself with the food and vitamins that are required. I have to take the extra time to plan and prepare so I am not caught off guard when I get hungry or when I am around food that does not help me.
For the first time in my life, I have stuck to a consistent exercise regimen of walking. And I am doing it with a girlfriend, which also lets me practice being in a friendship with someone just for the sake of the relationship and not because I feel obligated to help them out in any way. I am learning not to isolate myself. And I am learning (this one is hard) not to beat myself up for what I perceive are these failings of mine.
So that is my rambling, someone all inclusive answer to what is challenging. ; )
In response to question of "what was the most difficult challenge to maintaining your weight loss?", I underestimated how much I had to learn about self-care and coping, even as an adult with a college degree in phychology and many years of therapy. ; )
While the weight was coming off during the 14 months it took me to get to goal, the excitement of those life changes was enough to keep me motivated and busy with all kinds of new adventures in a lighter body. But underneath it all, I did not do a good enough job of finding GOOD, healthy, and reliable replacements for the coping that I used food for.
Once I was 3 or so years into this process, I had a lot of challenges in my family life (unrelated to the surgery or weight loss). My son encountered some real struggles that left me completely lost and unable to deal with things. I turned to food, both as comfort and as punishment. And as the weight came back on, I believed it was a sign that I deserved to be unhappy, that I was not good enough to live any other way.
In the last two years, I have finally made some real strides in understanding what my basic needs are and how to best respond to them. It is NOT easy. Every day, I am chased by "the old stuff" and the old habits that support that "stuff". But I made a deal with myself that I will live at the edge of my comfort zone for as long as it takes... until it doesn't feel like the edge anymore. I wish I knew when that was going to be!
In addition to the "inside" work that is constant, I had to really decide that I was happier and more physically comfortable without the extra weight on me. I had a nice taste of what it was like to live in a lighter body and I wanted that back. So I have to be willing to surround myself with the food and vitamins that are required. I have to take the extra time to plan and prepare so I am not caught off guard when I get hungry or when I am around food that does not help me.
For the first time in my life, I have stuck to a consistent exercise regimen of walking. And I am doing it with a girlfriend, which also lets me practice being in a friendship with someone just for the sake of the relationship and not because I feel obligated to help them out in any way. I am learning not to isolate myself. And I am learning (this one is hard) not to beat myself up for what I perceive are these failings of mine.
So that is my rambling, someone all inclusive answer to what is challenging. ; )
Mary D.
Pre op: 260 lbs, 5'3"
Goal reached 14 months later: 130 lbs
Regain over next 3.5 years to a high of: 166 lbs
Current weight: 135.8 lbs and heading back to 130 lbs!!
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