One year anniversary

Today is my one year. Hard to believe that, but then time flies.  I have learned so much in the past two years - pre-op and post-op. My eating is totally different now - no endless, mindless eating. I have been concerned as I enter maintenance that my calories have crept up and I'm eating too much, so I have started planning my day ahead of time.

I don't "cheat" -- no chocolates, no French fries, no pizza. I have had one bite of cake with one bite of ice cream at a wedding and got so mad at myself. I wanted to say at my 12 month appt that I hadn't tried any junk food.

I try to exercise more. I've been skating, running on the treadmill, and using some yoga stretching to increase my flexibility. Mostly I just try to walk more.

I've had scale and non-scale victories. I've lost about 135 pounds in total. I'm happy with my current weight but would love to lose 15 more to have room for bounceback which my surgeon said usually occurs when you start gaining your muscle mass back.

I had a funny encounter a couple months ago. I work with a professor. He is a little older. When he opened his office door, he looked at me and said, "have you gotten taller?" :)

I have saggy skin now, but I don't let it consume me. I wear it with pride. I'd rather have a little skin than be unhealthy again.

My only other struggle is that I am always tired. Tired before, tired now. I nap almost daily. My labs are beautiful. I take meds to help with moods and anxiety. By all accounts I should be full of energy. The docs always said, "just lose weight"... Well now I have and I'm still tired.

At the heart of things I am still me. I don't always see the weight loss in the mirror, but rationally I know I'm smaller and healthier. My relationships haven't changed much. My bf and I talked last night and he said if anything, things are better between us :)

Meg~

Congratulations on your success. In the grand scheme of things one bite of cake will not make a difference. Think of all the other days you resisted.

When they did your labs how was your iron? You may need more than just an iron pill. This is a good article about iron

It wasn't so much the calories of the cake as that I had made myself a promise not to eat any junk -- my dietitian has a board of different junk foods that I was not eating.

And my iron came back good. All my labs were good. They really have no idea why I'm tired. I'm going to mention it at my appt on Monday for my 12 month follow up though.