Maui Sister wants your perspective!!

Aloha my friends.....Life is such a strange and wonderful thing. I read in here every day and hear glorious happiness for having lost all those unwanted pounds...AND I also hear pains and disappointments not only with our WLS but also our lives after WLS. Most of you know I am/was a psychologist for many years so I can't help but wonder how we each deal with these HUGE life-changing loses of weight in our lives. For me.....I can remember vividly being over 300 lbs........on a 5"11" frame.......this is a BIG WOMAN!! Each of us goes through HUGE changes when we see our weight go from something LARGE to something normal!! My tall body still can't feel comfortable at 145 lbs!

I am hoping that each and every one of you who is looking in the mirror and seeing a large woman will be able to imagine yourselves so much smaller. It is possible.

Where is my magic wand?? Ha........Just believe that you are on the right path to changing into someone healthy, happy and fit!!

Aloha nui loa,

Maui Karen

Hello Maui Karen....I have that problem yet today. I see myself as a chubby/fat woman. I can't see how thin I am. I have never been able to except that even when I was a size zero. I still wasn't 100% certain. I still hate to look in a mirror. I know my vision is off. Makes me very frustrated. I can't get the FAT out of my head.

Love you sweetie...hugs....connie d

Hello Maui Karen,

I don't know if I will even believe that I will look "normal".  Since I was tormented and raped at 17 I know that I have used my weight to keep the men from looking or desiring me.  It didn't really work except in my mind but it was my security.  I feel I have dealt with all of that now and ready to be beautiful again.  I just wished that I could have done it at a much earlier age but life is what it is.  Besides the weight / food definitely became the enemy to my spirit and healthy person.  I am ready to live, go on vacations, put on a swimsuit, not hide anymore, and love me.

My mom came over today so I could shower without worrying my honey that I might fall and no one would be here.  When she was helping to put the belly binder back on told me that she could already see a difference and I said really it has only been a few days.  I will have to learn that acceptance is okay and real.

Hugs,

Mikka

Hi Karen,

I have to say that my perspective is just a little different.  Since this is my second WLS and the first one failed miserably, my problem is that I don't believe this change is permanent.  I see myself clearly in the mirror.  I know I've lost weight.  But I'm scared to death to trust it.  I keep waiting for the day I start to gain it all back.

I am forcing myself to have my rings resized.  That, to me, is a fairly permanent thing to do.  It's taken me 2 years to work up the nerve.  In the back of my mind, the refrain that constantly runs is "What if I gain it all back?"

So, no magic wands.  Just a lot of hard work and commitment to being healthy and hopefully a whole lot wiser the second time around!   

Hi My Maui Sistah!

Being 5'2" and 254 lbs. on a petite frame (my weight in March of 2007) is not normal and over time, it robbed me of the very vibrant life I was used to leading and so I hoped that having WLS would put that all behind me. . .  every pound seemed to have a mind of it's own, where others seemed to shed the pounds easily, I worked hard for mine, but eventually I saw that the person staring back at me was not the same person in the pictures I had from pre-surgery days, even the ones I took periodically throughout my first year post-op. . .  those post-op photos have helped me, as recently as several months ago, when I feared that I was seriously losing the battle.  My nutritionist suggested that I take a look at what I had looked like and luckily I did see the difference, because I was someone who had some regain, my own fault, poor choices, without exercise, netted me a 33 lbs. regain (for me the first 8 to 10 were ok, as I felt myself looking too thin in the face and upper body), but what I was seeing when I looked in the mirror was my old self and fear had me thinking I would return to that prison of what life had become pre-surgery.  Well thankfully, through the support of the group I facilitate I got reinvigorated and I am back to doing what works, making more right choices, exercising 4 to 5x a week and the weight is coming off, I have 18 lbs. to go and while it will take time, I have and will not give up.  I enjoy the healthier way I live today, it is a blessing to be "normal" and I don't mean as in my thinking (lol). . .  I am a work in progress and so long as I remember that, I know that if I take a detour, I simply need to retrace my steps to get back on the right road.  I am healthy, fit and just suffer the pains of an aging body.  Wouldn't change a thing for what the last 6 years of my life have netted me!

Hugs to you, Laureen

ALOHA.. HERE i sit at 6:00 p.m. Tuesday evening.......just wondering how all of you are doing. Today was a total change from what is usual.....and that has been good I guess. On Tues. I'm usually quietly at home doing chores and easy catch up, but today everything was topsy turvey. My dear friend, Noma, who died last week is making all of our schedules change. Her by the sea ceramony will be happening tomorrow and I will be there for sure!!

Life never ceases to amaze with it's twists and turns........I try to be there when I'm needed, but also sometimes feel I'm overwhelmed with expectations. Loving NOMA, and sending big hugs whereever I can!!

OOOXOXO

Karen