Recent Posts

We often get caught up in cutting calories or what the scale says. Sometimes this is more important than anything else. Remember that we embarked on this journey for a lifelong change not a quick fix. This means that what is most important is finding those healthy behaviors that we can live with the rest of our lives that will lead to long term success with our weight loss surgery.

These behaviors include things like not drinking while eating, measuring our portions, eating protein first, taking small bites, chewing our food thoroughly, eliminating high calorie/high fat foods from our diets and increasing the level of physical activity in our lives as the weight comes off. These behaviors will have a lasting affect on our lives and will definitely affect the scale in the long term.

When we do these things, we are destined for success!

Your post is excellent and exactly what I needed to hear today.  I plan on having surgery this summer and I am so excited.  My friends and family don't understand and keep saying, "I have and I have regained all the weight plus more." I am tired of the up and down and the constant failure.  Your post really hit home as to why I am going to do this.

What do you do if you are struggling with food addictions and are considering WLS? Do you love to eat and worry about giving up the foods you love? Many of us did. I'll share with you a few sayings I heard when I first started out on this journey that really seemed to "click" with me. The first was:

Nothing TASTES as good as skinny FEELS.

This really hit home for me. Food is a momentary pleasure but real weight loss and improved health lasts so much longer and the results are noticeable by many more people too.

The surgeon operates on your stomach not your brain.

Just because you have weight loss surgery, your brain isn't just going to change over night. I know that I had real challenges with my relationship with food-- why I reached for it, how much I ate, when I ate, etc. Why do we give a THING so much control over our lives? I found that seeing a therapist was very helpful for me. Just limiting portions wasn't enough. Learning what made a healthy meal didn't change decades of bad eating behaviors either. One of the most important things I had to do was to admit that what I had been doing the previous 35 years wasn't working and surrender my will to other people like my nutritionist and my surgeon. I followed my nutritionist's advice and went back and told her the things I was struggling with like cooking with vegetables & feeling hungry. She often said, "Show me what you're eating and I'll tell you what's happening." She has helped me so much with my diet now. But, she can't begin to understand how heavyset people mingle boredom, loneliness, depression, sadness and even celebration into their relationships with food. For this, I needed to see a therapist and do a lot of soul searching.

If food is more important than being healthy or possibly living another 20 years, then remember nobody is holding a gun to your head and forcing you to have surgery. It's completely optional. If you think there is another diet in you, you should absolutely try it. When I attended the WLS Seminar, they shared statistics that were my life's story-- most people who've carried weight most of their life and diet, lose a chunk of weight while dieting and then regain the weight they lost plus a few pounds within a year or two after the diet ends (that was me). However, a large percentage (sorry I don't remember the exact #-- think it was 80%) of WLS patients lose a majority of their excess body weight and keep it off for 5+ years. I wanted that!

The #1 issue that all WLS patients face in years 3+ post op is weight regain regardless of surgery type. This is primarily due to not making permanent lifestyle changes- measuring portions, not learning to eat healthier foods and not incorporating physical activity into their lives as the weight comes off. I had a boss who used to say: If we always do what we always did, we'll always get what we always got. So why are we supprised when that happens on this journey? We have to make real changes in order to to take our lives in a completely different direction. You can't just donate your body to a surgeon and hope that the rest will happen on it's own. It's a lot of hard work but totally worth it in the end.

Life is so much sweeter when you're able to do the things you want to do and have energy to spare, wear the clothes you want to wear, buy them off the rack or feel good about yourself. For me, no love of food is worth what I've given myself back in terms of self-esteem and ability to participate in the game of life. You can too.

Everyone embarks on this endeavor for different reasons. We all have our own goals. I found writing mine down and keeping a Wellness Journal was a very helpful thing. Thinking about what I wanted to accomplish phsyically by having surgery and also the things I wanted to be able to do that I couldn't before like travel comfortably, fit in an airplane seat, play with my nephews without being winded or look down and see my toes. Sometimes, it's the smallest of joys that are the most lasting too.

Whatever your reasons are for starting this process and taking control of your health and wellbeing, write them down. Hang them up and remind yourself of them. There will be times when you are frustrated. Many of us avoided photos because we don't like how we look at our heaviest. For me, I attended a cousin's wedding right before my surgery. I was 324 lbs. I never looked in the mirror and thought I was that big but seeing myself in photos always seemed to shock me. I took a photo of myself from that wedding and put it on my computer's desktop background. I taped it to my fridge. I wrote "never again" and made it my inspiration to keep moving forward on my journey. Sometimes, looking at what we don't want to see is what we need to do.



That was me at 324 lbs



Today, 3/16/10, at 224 lbs. Exactly 100 lbs lower than that day. Those were 54" pants compared with 38" ones - 16" off my abdomen. Not to mention thighs, arms, face and everywhere else.

Sure, there are foods that TASTE wonderful, but, skinny sure does FEEL great!

 I've added a post on my blog reviewing the Atlanta Obesity Help Event - it was fan friggin tastic. My first OH Event ever, but let me say that it is certainly not my last. For my comments and photos of the event, visit my blog site : emilybrubaker.com

Have a great "Hump Day" tomorrow! It's almost the weekend and I sure am glad :)

Often we get so caught up with what the scale says that we lose sight of the other accomplishments we achieve during this journey. True, losing 10, 20 or 50 lbs is a remarkable accomplishment and reflects to the world that we are regaining our health. However, there are other non-scale victories that are often overlooked by people on this journey but are just as important if not more relished when achieved.

I know I was thrilled when I could finally shop for my clothes in a regular department store again instead of a big & tall men's store. When I no longer needed a seat belt extender when flying on an aiplane, I knew I had really made significant changes in my waist as well. Being able to wash my feet in the shower without straining or tie my shoes were also wonderful non-scale victories. For me, the most wonderful one was being able to participate in the game of life again. To not feel sidelined by my weight. Now I can go to an amusement park and ride the rides or go on vacation and actually walk around a town and enjoy it instead of trying to minimize how much walking I did.

WLS has given me a new lease on life. That is truly a victory that nothing to do with the scale. It has everything to do with my new lifestyle-- making healthy eating choices, measuring my meals and incorporating exercise into my daily life. Doing these things (and taking my vitamins, drinking enough water and a few other things), has really changed my life from a sedentary one to an active one.

I would encourage each of you to think about the things that have changed for the better in your life since you have begun losing weight. Whether you have had surgery or not. Maybe you are on a pre-surgery diet. The idea is to find inspiration to keep making healthy eating choices and moving your body each day and to want to continue to lose weight or to maintain your healthy weight.

Whatever your non-scale victories (NSV) are, the wonderful feeling they give you often stays with you longer than the instant gratification you feel from the food item you are craving when you have a moment of weakness.  That's why there's the saying, "Nothing TASTES as good as skinny FEELS."  Once that food item is swallowed, the pleasure is usually over and you are left with guilt and the calories. But when you lose a dress or pant size, you have a wonderful buzz that often lasts for days if not weeks!

Good luck on your journey!