Recent Posts

Here's where I am...

Surgery Status?

Post op

Surgery Type? 

RNY

Surgery Date? 

June 07

Weight

Highest:

264

Current:

132

Goal:

140 to 145

Starting Sizes:
Pant:

22 - highest was 24

Shirts:

22 - highest was 24
Shoes:

9.5/10 W

Current Sizes:
Pants:

4/6

Shirts:

6/8
Shoes:

8/8.5 M

How do you feel?

I 'feel' decades younger. I am much more physically active because it's so much easier to get around. I walk everywhere now. Instead of looking for the parking space closest to the door, I look for the one that has the most shade, no matter where it is. I handle the heat so much more easily than I ever did before; I probably will never really like the sultry, hot summers in NC, but at least now I can handle them. I doubt that I will ever truly enjoy yard work, but I enjoy being 'able' to do it.

Any WOW moments?

My son just got married last weekend. I had purchased a gown for the event last summer and had taken to my tailor for the minor alterations. I had to take it in again so that they could alter it down because I'm smaller this year than I was last year. 

My son lives in San Jose CA, which is where we are from and we moved to NC about 9 years ago, so many of my friends have seen me once or twice, since the weight loss, but not often. When I went to my old hair dresser to have my hair done for the wedding I was at the shop before it opened, my hair dresser has known me more than 25 years and she said that she didn't recognize me when she saw me sitting in the parking lot. 

Do you have any concerns?

I know that my relationship with food was very different pre-op and even in the post op period when I was losing weight than it is now. Pre-op, I really used food to deal with anger, frustration, loneliness, and celebrations. While I was losing weight post op, I had more of an idealist, almost adolescent relationship with food, meaning that things seemed to be good or bad, right or wrong, without much gray area. Now that I'm 3 yrs post op, I find that I seemed to have found a generally healthy balance. I don't deny myself any type of food, but I now have an awareness of the value of what I'm eating and do a much better job of maintaining a balance that helps me maintain my weight. I think that balance is what I was missing pre-op and to an extent, but necessarily so for the first year post op. 

So no matter where you are in your journey, have you looked at your relationship with food? If so, has it changed at all and how?

I'd like to try to develop a more interactive group, so I thought I try starting a Challenges and Successes thread where we can share our respective challenges and successes. Sometimes we need to look at those challenges and find ways to manage them, but also be sure to recognize our successes. 

My challenges: 

We have been in the process of moving and I find that I misplaced my supplements and keep forgetting to take them. I mentioned this to my husband and he said he had his supplements and would be happy to share them, so I'll be taking him up on the offer. 

Because of our move, we have been eating out more often and I haven't been eating as regularly or as well as I would like to eat. I went to the grocery store this weekend and stocked up on some things that would be quick and healthy so that I would have things available at the house. Now I need to see about getting a cooler or something to have at the old house so that I can have some healthy things available there as we finish moving the smaller stuff and getting the house cleaned up. 

My successes:

I have been able to hold my weight through a very volatile and stressful time. I now that in the past I would have put on at least 20 lbs with the stress. 

I am physically able to get so much more done; not only because of my increased stamina, but also because I'm smaller and much more fit than I used to be.

I have been taking time to go to support group meetings. This has been a huge help for me in so many ways. It has provided support through difficult times, but it has also allowed me to reach out to others and that too has helped make a difficult personal time a little easier. It also has helped me to look at my behaviors and make corrections. I tend to really take a look at myself when I'm talking to others and they are sharing their own challenges and successes.