Four years out...
Last Wednesday was my four year anniversary and I didn't even realize it. It is funny - years one, two and three seemed like such important remembrances, but this year it just went by without notice.
For anyone wondering, my life is pretty much like it was before WLS. The main difference is I eat less than everyone else at a meal and sometimes feel sick afterward - if I eat the wrong things. It is nice however to be able to enjoy a nice meal out and not have the waiter stop by and ask what is wrong with my food.
For what its worth to anyone just starting out - you won't feel so restricted forever. Don't pine for the foods you miss, you'll have them again. Take the first 12-18 months to learn healthy habits and stick to them. Try not to learn how to "bend the rules" of your new stomach. It is amazing how much has changed in my eating habits and lifestyle before and after surgery - even more amazing is how much changes from day zero (day of surgery) to four years later.
In any case - some milestones along the past four years:
1) Losing 100 pounds
2) Losing about ten dress sizes
3) Being able to shop in the same stores as my friends
4) Being attractive to the opposite sex
5) Plastic surgery to reshape my sad body after losing the 100 pounds: tummy tuck, lipo to thighs and arms, which was then injected into my deflated butt and breast lift w/ augmentation
7) Finally understanding what it means to accept myself - I was never able to do it at my old size
As much as I used to say I was doing this for their health - and that is important - the most benefit I've found has been from the physical transformation. I'm grateful not to be at risk for diabetes and heart disease anymore, but the daily benefit of my weight loss is what I see when I look in the mirror. As I reflect on the past four years, I realize the best part of my WLS was becoming a smaller, more attractive person. Please don't be offended, this is just my experience. I fooled myself into believing I was doing RNY for the health benefits four years ago, but today I know I just wanted to be thinner - to be accepted and ultimately happy. For me, it turns out, the health benefits were just the extra perk.
On the forgotten four year anniversary almost everything I did, would have been difficult, if not impossible at my old weight. My family was in town visiting, we went to Battery Park were I ate half a bagel w/ cream cheese for breakfast, went through security, boarded a crowded ferry where we climbed to the top floor. Got off the ferry at Liberty Island where we went through security again. Then we climbed all the way to the crown of the Statue of Liberty and climbed back down. If you've never done this before, once you're inside the statue you climb a tiny "double helix" ladder-like stairwell to the top - I think it was almost 400 steps. Afterward, we crowded back onto the ferry to Ellis Island where we spent the afternoon walking around and looking at the touristy stuff. We were back in Manhattan by 4:30. I took the family to Delmonico's bar for appetizers and happy hour. Then we went back to the hotel to change and clean up for dinner at 9:00.
Sometimes I think I've changed too much since my surgery and that I'm ruined or my smaller stomach doesn't work anymore, but there are so many things in just that one day that I can see are 180 degrees different from the person I was before surgery.
To one and all - good luck with your decisions. I hope you are happy and get exactly what you want and need.
- L
For anyone wondering, my life is pretty much like it was before WLS. The main difference is I eat less than everyone else at a meal and sometimes feel sick afterward - if I eat the wrong things. It is nice however to be able to enjoy a nice meal out and not have the waiter stop by and ask what is wrong with my food.
For what its worth to anyone just starting out - you won't feel so restricted forever. Don't pine for the foods you miss, you'll have them again. Take the first 12-18 months to learn healthy habits and stick to them. Try not to learn how to "bend the rules" of your new stomach. It is amazing how much has changed in my eating habits and lifestyle before and after surgery - even more amazing is how much changes from day zero (day of surgery) to four years later.
In any case - some milestones along the past four years:
1) Losing 100 pounds
2) Losing about ten dress sizes
3) Being able to shop in the same stores as my friends
4) Being attractive to the opposite sex
5) Plastic surgery to reshape my sad body after losing the 100 pounds: tummy tuck, lipo to thighs and arms, which was then injected into my deflated butt and breast lift w/ augmentation
7) Finally understanding what it means to accept myself - I was never able to do it at my old size
As much as I used to say I was doing this for their health - and that is important - the most benefit I've found has been from the physical transformation. I'm grateful not to be at risk for diabetes and heart disease anymore, but the daily benefit of my weight loss is what I see when I look in the mirror. As I reflect on the past four years, I realize the best part of my WLS was becoming a smaller, more attractive person. Please don't be offended, this is just my experience. I fooled myself into believing I was doing RNY for the health benefits four years ago, but today I know I just wanted to be thinner - to be accepted and ultimately happy. For me, it turns out, the health benefits were just the extra perk.
On the forgotten four year anniversary almost everything I did, would have been difficult, if not impossible at my old weight. My family was in town visiting, we went to Battery Park were I ate half a bagel w/ cream cheese for breakfast, went through security, boarded a crowded ferry where we climbed to the top floor. Got off the ferry at Liberty Island where we went through security again. Then we climbed all the way to the crown of the Statue of Liberty and climbed back down. If you've never done this before, once you're inside the statue you climb a tiny "double helix" ladder-like stairwell to the top - I think it was almost 400 steps. Afterward, we crowded back onto the ferry to Ellis Island where we spent the afternoon walking around and looking at the touristy stuff. We were back in Manhattan by 4:30. I took the family to Delmonico's bar for appetizers and happy hour. Then we went back to the hotel to change and clean up for dinner at 9:00.
Sometimes I think I've changed too much since my surgery and that I'm ruined or my smaller stomach doesn't work anymore, but there are so many things in just that one day that I can see are 180 degrees different from the person I was before surgery.
To one and all - good luck with your decisions. I hope you are happy and get exactly what you want and need.
- L
I so appreciate your post and wish more of the long term post ops would keep us informed of life after the weight loss. We are pretty much on a high with the rapid loss but i loved that you filled us in on life after it. How the changes have impacted your life and how much the the weight loss has changed you in general.
Have one questions, which i hope you don't think im being nosy, I just have the same things in mind. Those lipos and tummy tucks and such you had, How much did you spend?? roughly. and how many years out did you feel ready to do it? How was the healing? how are your scars on your arms and thighs? Thanks for all your inspiration.
Have one questions, which i hope you don't think im being nosy, I just have the same things in mind. Those lipos and tummy tucks and such you had, How much did you spend?? roughly. and how many years out did you feel ready to do it? How was the healing? how are your scars on your arms and thighs? Thanks for all your inspiration.
My big day is july 6th, 2009, finally!!!
Hi, Giordanna -
The cost of my plastics ended up totaling about $15,000 - maybe a little less. I didn't do anything through insurance. I took a lot of time researching docs and found a great one in D.C. - Paul Ruff. I would highly recommend him to anyone in that area.
I did my plastics at about 3 years out. I don't think there is any set time limit at when you should get it done. I just knew that for the last year and a half I had leveled off in my weight loss and settled into a 5-10 pound fluctuation. I still fluctuate, I think it will be the norm for the rest of my life.
The healing varied for the different procedures. I had it done in two separate surgeries. The first one was just tummy tuck and a little lipo to even things out. The recovery from the tummy tuck was brutal. I'm not going to sugar coat it - it was very difficult. I couldn't stand straight for many weeks, I had two drain tubes coming out of me for a week, I couldn't lay flat, the pain was difficult. That being said - the results make it 100% worth it. I have a flat tummy, now with an adorable new belly button. My scar is virtually invisible. I had open RNY and that scar looks so gross and sloppy compared to my plastic surgeon's work. He put the scar right above my pubic line, so I can still wear low rise pants and bikini bottoms and you can't see it at all.
My second surgery was three months later. It consisted of a breast lift and augmentation. I chose silicone implants under the muscle. If you are seriously considering implants, I would urge you to choose silicone. They have a bad rap from the old days, but they are now just as safe as saline and look and feel so much better. I've actually had to convince boyfriends that mine are not real - it is weird. During that same surgery my doc took a significant amount of fat from all over my body (i didn't have much left so he had to take from many different locations) and he then injected it into my booty. I don't know if this happens to everyone, but my butt had completely deflated. The only difficult part about healing from this surgery was sleeping on my side for two weeks and trying to sit properly at work. It was not nearly as difficult or painful as the first.
As for scarring - I have very little. I think I owe that to my plastic surgeon. My tummy tuck left a pencil thin white line around my waist and my other scars have completely disappeared. You should obvs spend a lot of time meeting with surgeons and asking to see before/after pics. In those pictures look at the scars. In my opinion a little scarring is better than the annoying skin and droopy stuff that was there before. This was the SECOND best decision I've ever made.
Good luck - let me know if you want any more details!
The cost of my plastics ended up totaling about $15,000 - maybe a little less. I didn't do anything through insurance. I took a lot of time researching docs and found a great one in D.C. - Paul Ruff. I would highly recommend him to anyone in that area.
I did my plastics at about 3 years out. I don't think there is any set time limit at when you should get it done. I just knew that for the last year and a half I had leveled off in my weight loss and settled into a 5-10 pound fluctuation. I still fluctuate, I think it will be the norm for the rest of my life.
The healing varied for the different procedures. I had it done in two separate surgeries. The first one was just tummy tuck and a little lipo to even things out. The recovery from the tummy tuck was brutal. I'm not going to sugar coat it - it was very difficult. I couldn't stand straight for many weeks, I had two drain tubes coming out of me for a week, I couldn't lay flat, the pain was difficult. That being said - the results make it 100% worth it. I have a flat tummy, now with an adorable new belly button. My scar is virtually invisible. I had open RNY and that scar looks so gross and sloppy compared to my plastic surgeon's work. He put the scar right above my pubic line, so I can still wear low rise pants and bikini bottoms and you can't see it at all.
My second surgery was three months later. It consisted of a breast lift and augmentation. I chose silicone implants under the muscle. If you are seriously considering implants, I would urge you to choose silicone. They have a bad rap from the old days, but they are now just as safe as saline and look and feel so much better. I've actually had to convince boyfriends that mine are not real - it is weird. During that same surgery my doc took a significant amount of fat from all over my body (i didn't have much left so he had to take from many different locations) and he then injected it into my booty. I don't know if this happens to everyone, but my butt had completely deflated. The only difficult part about healing from this surgery was sleeping on my side for two weeks and trying to sit properly at work. It was not nearly as difficult or painful as the first.
As for scarring - I have very little. I think I owe that to my plastic surgeon. My tummy tuck left a pencil thin white line around my waist and my other scars have completely disappeared. You should obvs spend a lot of time meeting with surgeons and asking to see before/after pics. In those pictures look at the scars. In my opinion a little scarring is better than the annoying skin and droopy stuff that was there before. This was the SECOND best decision I've ever made.
Good luck - let me know if you want any more details!
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