Signs of Normal Life

16 months out from surgery I am realizing that I now live a pretty normal life. I am prompted to post this as yesterday I was grocery shopping and noticed some pretty good looking new york strip steaks and bought them. Now I still can only do 3 or 4 ounces so my husband and I split a pound steak and it works out. Man that steak was good. Hadn't had a really high quality one in a long time. Made me realize that if I want a bloody rare high quality steak I can eat it and be fine and still eat my nightly blob of peanut butter. I have an array of lunch items to take to the studio that work well and my only minor issue is that I sometimes buy too much food that spoils because I want to keep variety around but can't consume the stuff before it expires. Oh well.

Anyway, life feels pretty good at this point including the eating issues. I used to get a bubbly full of air feeling pretty quickly when eating and used gax by the ton, but even that has settled down now.

Now if I could just get better about exercising I could rule the world!!!

Diane

I just made a post along similar lines!

And I eat several blobs of peanut butter every night. LOL I'm addicted.

 I feel *too* normal today.  And I still have weight to lose .  Today I am just feeling like I don't know if I can make it the rest of the way.  I'm sure it's just an aberration because so often I feel intense restriction.

I really want to feel normal.  I have never even had the opportunity to try and maintain...I'd like it.  How strange it would be to feel normal.  And yet, for the time being, I need to shape up.

Well BB you will feel more normal some days than others and you will get to your goal. I can just tell. That restriction is funny and somedays it seems like its way more than others - like sleeve sneaks and changes sizes on you. I've heard that comment from others.

I guess I don't feel so normal when I go to a restaurant and most of the menu is a no-go; not because I couldn't eat the stuff but because there is just not room for most of the meal and I hate waste though I will take stuff home. Went to a really fancy place a couple of weeks ago and I ordered a scallops appetizer as my dinner. We were guests of a dear friend and I hated to make him buy me an expensive dinner that I would be taking most of home. So a nice appetizer is fine. Gotta admit the pickin's were pretty slim at the Vietnamese restaurant last weekend where people where eating these giant troughs of pho with noodles and all I could find was chicken satay on skewers. But it was good and I was happy with it.

Anyway, normal is a relative term but I guess I was just struck by feeling that way yesterday after 16 months. You just get those last few pounds off and you will feel so great about it that you will feel better than normal!     And having been overweight since age 8 and not achieving normal weight until age 59, its a pretty exceptional feeling!  Diane

Hey BB....You ARE normal in many ways (especially if you define it as beautiful young woman....cause you readily fit that "norm")  FEELING normal.....is up to you!  But like I posted above....what is "normal?"  It is different for everyone I suppose?  I think we have to find our OWN "new norm".....and accept.....and "embrace" it!  If my "new norm" is my life now....and it is considered "abnormal" to the "general public?".......Then I will gladly "embrace" abnormality! 

BTW.....like the new avi pic!  First alcohol I had was a "micro-brewed"  stout!  

Well '"normal"  is relative....isn't it?   I want to be able to maintain an active ...healthy.....un-limited lifestyle!  Some thing will never be "normal"  for us.    We have permanently "altered" out anatomy!  With that comes change....and compromise with certain "aspects" of our new lives.  For me........ I'll take my "new norm"  for my "old norm" every time!  If this is "abnormal".....call me "Abby Normal!" 

Yep Jimbo, normal is indeed relative. Not to be confused with normal relatives (of which I don't have any). 

But my old normal was having  joint pain daily so that I had to plan anything requiring the most minimal effort to be finished by 3pm before the daily backache set in, taking pills for bp and cholesterol until the pills made me sick, limited clothing options and on and on, you know the drill.  So when I say I feel normal I guess I mean free from all that crappy stuff plus able to eat modest portions of many fine foods (limiting the stuff that starts with "c") and not feeling every minute like a barriatric surgery patient.

So yeah we are all altered permanantly but that alteration puts me so much closer to my idea of what a normal  life is like than  when I was double my current weight. Its as normal as I have ever felt in my 59 years.  And I am only physically aware of that alteration a few minutes a day when I reach the "I', done" point during a meal. 

Abby Normal and Ubee Normal too! 

  Diane

Another evening of feeling normal. We went out to a movie and dinner; something we haven't done in a long time. The movie was "Paul" which was pretty funny if you are a sci fi nerd like me and my hubby are, but fairly sophmoric.

Our small town has limited restaurant options so we went to this one very good Mexican place which I hadn't been to since surgery. Was thinking if worst came to worst I could get soup or an order of refried beans. Well they had this wonderful cerviche with avocado on a tostada. Lime marinated fish with chopped tomatos and other veggies with some avocado slices and a little guacamole. Of course I couldn't eat the whole thing and ditched the tortilla  and brought some home but it was great. And they had a number of shrimp dishes that would have been sleeve suitable. Will get that next time.

So it was nice to get out and do something and not have to cook. We are homebodies by choice but this was fun and good to know that I can do this and stay within my eating guides and my dinner partner can still have a normal meal with no issues from me.  A nsv for sure.

Diane

Diane, I love the feeling normal thing and did not when I was only 16 months out. but I do now, mostly.

I try to remember that throwing away food because I bought too much is less of a waste than eating food I don't want. and certainly less of a waist!    

tell you what, what I am doing for exercise is SO easy and SO minor but I can tell the difference. I just put on a CD programmed with 20 minutes of something peppy and I race walk/dance/jog or whatever just keep moving until it's done.  there is a straight line through the living room, up & down the all and back to the start and I do it over and over, moving as much as I feel like.

and I've only been doing it maybe 3 times a week and I swear I can tell. I feel better and a little stronger. and it's so easy!!   I hope to crank up to 45 minutes 4 times a week but so far am all about getting the habit.

this is what I can do, find what you can do. doesn't have to be training for a 10K, you know?