What's Different?

So tell me ya'll...what has changed for you since surgery? 

How has Dr. Jawad changed your life? 

Don't forget to invite a friend of Dr. Jawad's to join the group!! 


~Mandi

For me it is the awareness of healthy eating.  I look at every package and every recipe to see what I can get out of it... meaning mainly PROTEIN, PROTEIN, PROTEIN!!!  I have a program that helps me track nutrition but I have changed to using this website for the nutritional tracker because it is so easy and I am on here every day anyway.  I am ordering an electronic recipe reader (I think it is a Demi by KeyIngredient.com) so I can input my healthy recipes and tweak those that I have on my AllRecipes site for better health, upload them and basically take it to my kitchen for cooking.   Yep, it is absolutely my awareness for nutritional data...and healthy food.

Tori

What hasn't changed, lol?

Before surgery, I was in bed or sitting for 95% of the day. I had no hope, nor willingness to change. My view of life was abysmal to say the least. Although life after surgery is not easy, I couldn't imagine making the progress I've made without it. That's what surgery does for you, it gives you an opportunity to make real, long-lasting lifestyle changes. It shatters the relationship with food that existed, so that you can re-prioritize that relationship for YOUR health's benefit. As I am writing this, it is 5 months post-op. As of my last weigh in I have lost 142 lbs. I haven't been at this weight in over 10 years. I never imagined that I would ever participate in a 5k walk, which I did on April 30th, 2011. I never imagined I would be walking 1 mile on the treadmill, every morning. I never imagined I would be walking into a gym to do strength training, every other day. Nor, did I imagine I would attend Yoga classes at a local studio 3 times a week. I find myself smiling at people when I head out of the house. So many so called "little things", that have such a big impact on our lives and those around us. If there is one word to encapsulate what weight loss surgery does for you, is that it gives you "hope".

 Well said.  I agree with you that this surgery changes how you think about food.  As I have said to a few others on here... I read something that just sums it up for me that was posted by a fellow member on the OH site.  "We used to live to eat.  Now, we eat to live".  That has been so true for me.  I don't find the relationship with food to be so uncontrollable anymore... now I control the food.  I spend my free time looking for healthy recipes and changing those that I love into a way healthier version.  But I also spend more time on here, finding friends and building relationships, updating my food log and tracking every portion of food I put into my body watching especially for protein.  I have educated myself on whether a piece of food I am about to put in my body has a reason to be put in my body - what do I get out of it?  Its there protein?  What's the fat content? Does it have sugar?  I am here to tell you before surgery I had the biggest sweet tooth and lived on pasta.  My favorite pasta dish used to be one that carried OVER a days worth of calories and I never bothered to look at that before.  

I am very proud of your activity level and I know you must feel better.  I set my goal to start working out this week and I am looking forward to it.  I actually look forward to getting my bike at this end of this month.  Congrats on such wonderful achievements and results.