Three years!

Nov 08, 2012

It's been three years since my surgery!  I can barely believe it.  Most days I don't even think about it at all.  I still haven't lost as much weight as I would've liked, but I do keep losing slowly.  I think I lost about 10 pounds this past year.  I'm finally no longer obese!  And I'm the same weight as my driver's license, which wasn't even accurate when I got it 12 years ago...    Although I have not lost all of the weight, I have not gained any back, and I'm very proud of that. 

I've had a lot of hiccups in my weight loss journey over the past three years.  I started getting debilitating pain in my hips maybe 10 months after my WLS.  I ended up having to have surgery on both of my hips last year, six months apart.  I was on crutches for a month after each surgery.  Right after I got off the crutches the second time, I broke my foot.    I had to wear a boot type cast thing for almost two months, because it wasn't healing properly.  THEN, once my foot was healed and I could remove the boot, I started getting horrible back pain, to the point where I could barely walk.  I went to physical therapy and they told me that it was likely due to wearing the boot so long.  Ugh.  The physical therapy helped, but I was still having pain, so about a month ago I started doing Pilates and so far that seems to be doing the trick.  I feel stronger, I have better posture, and I don't have much back pain anymore.  Hopefully I can get back on track now and lose 15 to 20 more pounds. 

I'm currently a size 12 in pants and a M or L in tops.  Before my surgery, I was a size 24 pants and an XXL top.  So although I haven't lost half of my body weight, I have lost half of my size.    One day I hope to get plastic surgery, but so far it is not in the cards for me.  The extra skin is annoying, but I still wouldn't change my experience.   I'm able to do many things I could never have done before, and I don't even think about it.  I can fit in any chair, I can walk two blocks without feeling winded, I can cross my legs, and I can shop for clothes in regular stores.  My mom is even preparing to have WLS surgery now, in part because of my success with it.  I would never have the life I have, if not for it and I am so grateful.

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