3 month surgiversary -- reflections (kinda long)

Today it’s exactly 3 months since my RNY surgery.   I’ve been one of the fortunate ones in that I’ve had absolutely no complications so far, and the extent of my discomfort was having nausea the day of surgery, which I believe was from the anesthesia. Dry heaves every time I got out of bed wasn’t much fun, but it only lasted that first 18 hours or so, and after that nothing. I didn’t even have to take my pain meds at all after leaving the hospital.  

I’m satisfied with the amount of weight I’ve lost so far. It’s been 39 pounds since surgery, but then I lost 35 in the 10 months between my initial consult and surgery. So even though I occasionally feel a little envious of those who seem to be losing faster, on the whole I do realize that I’m pretty normal for rate of loss.  

Today I am wearing size 18 pants for the first time. 18s! I don’t think I’ve worn an 18 since I was in college 25 years ago. I do think the 18s 25 years ago were smaller than the 18s today, and I will admit that these are stretchy pants rather than jeans. No way I can get 18 jeans up at this point. I could probably manage the waist and hips if I could get them up that high. I have very large thighs and calves, with the circumference of my lower thighs nearly the same as my upper thighs. Most pants seem to curve in more at the knees than my legs do.  

My surgeon highly recommends not weighing at all at home, and just using office visits to find out your weight. Well, I’ve failed miserably at that. I weigh myself almost every morning. For me personally I don’t think it’s causing stress or anything. I don’t flip out if the number is a pound or two higher than it was the previous day. For one thing I don’t entirely trust my scale, though it’s more consistent as I’m farther from its maximum capacity. For another, I’m well aware of just how much weight I can gain overnight from just retaining water for whatever random reason. I only consider my Sunday morning weights to be ‘official’, and my weight on the 1^st of every month. Since my surgery was May 30^th, I decided to use the 1^st as my monthly number. It’s cleaner that way, and it’s close enough.  

There are still areas I need to work on. I don’t exercise as much as I should be, though it’s far more than I used to. I enjoy walking when I do it, it’s just getting up to DO it that causes me issues. I prefer walking outside to using the treadmill in my dark and dingy little basement (no, there’s nowhere else I could move it to). But I don’t like walking outside when it’s too hot outside – though I do find I tolerate the heat much better at this weight than I did last summer!  

I know this is a bit rambling, but I just wanted to share some of my experiences so far for those who enjoy reading such things.   I’m looking forward to the coming months, as I’m just now moving into territory I don’t even remember. I think I passed 220 before I hit 20 years old, not that I remember precisely. There were a lot of years when I didn’t want to know what I actually weighed.

(edited because my paragraphs disappeared when I pasted from Word. Oops.)

Thanks for posting. I also have had very few problems at all. No pain, or sickness of any kind. Good for you and you are on your way to better health. 

Thank you for your post. I had surgery Mon. Down here in Puerta Vallarta. I am doing well and woke up today feeling pretty dang good. Reading your post gives me hope. I lost 31lbs in my 2week pre-op diet. I have a long ways to go. I dread complications as my insurance does not cover anything to do with obesity. I gohome on Sat. Any advice on how to not have complications would be greatly appreciated. I just want to be okay.  Thanks!

How to not have complications? Well, there's the following your discharge instructions carefully part. Other than that... I don't honestly know. I think part of it has to do with how healthy you are to begin with, and part of it is how your body deals with the changes. Everyone has a different body. Some people have a lot of pain, some people don't, even with the same surgery and same surgeon.

Just control the things you can control, like drinking your water and moving around and following your food plan completely, at least until you're healed from surgery. Ideally forever, but realistically... well, this is forever. For me it's unrealistic to never have a bite of candy ever again. I didn't have one for the first 2 months, though, and such indulgences are extremely limited.

I know myself well enough to know that I'm more likely to completely rebel and regain if I 100% forbid unhealthy choices than if I teach myself how to limit them to rare indulgences, and learn that if I make a bad choice then I don't have to follow it up with a long string of additional bad choices because I screwed up and it's hopeless anyhow.

Thanks for sharing and being honest.