This Never Happened Before

So today I finally got around to storing my cold weather bedding and clothes and taking out my warm weather stuff.  I never stored clothes before in my life.  In the past I wore things until they didn't fit any more then got rid of them and bought new stuff.  I was either growing out of things or out growing things.  I NEVER wore anything longer then a few months because my weight had never been stable before.

In Sept. 2011 I realized I had no room for my current clothes and the clothes I would need for warmer weather so I decided to pack them all up and put them in the shed.  Of course I got rid of things I didn't like or never wore but the things I liked I held onto.

In Spring of 2012 when it started warming up I remembered the clothes in my shed and brought them out and tentatively tried them on and they all fit.  The same thing happened that Fall when I brought out the colder weather clothes.  Today is the third Spring I have taken clothes out of storage, many of them from that first Spring when my weight was stabilizing, and put them away.  This morning I took out a pair of capris and looked at them and worried they would never fit me since I have bounced back since last Fall, not a lot, about 5 lbs, but enough to wonder if things would still fit.  And they did.  They fit exactly the way I remember them fitting in 2011, 2012 and 2013.  Who knew you could wear clothes longer then a few months?

For me the real success wasn't in losing the weight.  I have done that literally dozens of times before.  The real success is keeping it off year after year.  It is coming up on my 4th anniversary, not of my surgery but of the last time I intentionally ate things with sugar and gluten in them.  That date is more important then my surgery date, even though they happen to be the same.  After all, this wasn't my first rodeo.  I've been on the operating table before and thought my days of morbid obesity were over.  I learned the hard lesson that there is no cure, only remission and I am thankful every day that my food addictions are in remission.

I have been at my current job going on 2 years.  It is the first job I've had where I have been the same size from one month to the next.  The people there don't know me as a morbidly obese person.  They think I am naturally thin.  Lol, who would have thought.  I have shared with some that I used to weight 130 lbs more then I do now but it doesn't define me as a person.  I have shared with a few that I had WLS but that isn't who I am, either.  I am a person who has eating addictions who has been able to not practice my addiction for a while.  Yeah, I had WLS and WLS is the tool that has finally helped me to keep from eating the way I used to but that is not all there is about me.

And just because I haven't done this for a while and I know that it gives people encouragement when they see them, here is my before and after.

I love it. I hope that I get to experience the same thing as the years pass.

Thank you.

Wow - what a huge transformation - congrats on maintaining all of your loss. You are a great inspiration for those of us just now coming into maintenance and fearing we might gain it all back and more. Hoping I can be posting a similar story in 4 years!!

Thanks!  I am sure you will be doing great at 4 years out and beyond.

Thanks for sharing. It is great that you are in remission from your addiction - it is such a true statement. I am not there yet, so you sre an inspiration for me. 

Thanks for your kind words.

I completely get what you are saying. I, too, have gained and lost over and over. Long term maintenance is the most important reason that I had the surgery. I know it's not magic and I will have to work at it but at least now I have a fighting chance.

Thanks for the inspiration. You look incredible!

 

Thank you.  I have never been able to do this in my 50 some odd years of life so it must be the surgery that is giving me the extra help.

Good luck to you.

You look fantastic! I always appreciate it when you share your very valuable experiences and wisdom. Thanks for being here and offering your history and insight to us...some of us DO listen and take notice.