Just thought I’d do a 3 month post op update, if for nothing else to remind myself where I was and where I’m at.
At three months out I’m still adjusting to this whole new life. But one thing I know is that so far I don’t regret doing this at all! I do regret not doing it sooner, but that’s a thought for another time.
As of this writing I’m down approximately 120 pounds. I probably have about 150+ more to lose, so not quite half way there yet. But the difference just from summer to now is incredible.
The goal is generally to not focus on the numbers but the health…but when you start at 508 the numbers ARE important. Losing 120 is important. It’s a big deal. There will be a day I think where my overall health and maintaining a healthly life will be more important. That is happening now, to a degree, but losing is the biggest deal for me.
In losing I’ve had a ton of non-scale victories (NSVs) and those are great too!
Some of my NSVs include:
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- I’ve gone from 7XLT shirts, and some of those were getting a bit tight, to anywhere from that down to a regular 5X. Still a long way to go, and big and tall clothes fit can vary wildly, but it’s good to be moving in the right direction. Some day I will get to shop at normal stores!
- I have a belt that has holes all the way around. At the start of this I was in hole #9. As of today I’m in hole #17.
- After waiting until my pants were falling off, I bought some jeans just a few weeks ago that fit well. They are starting to get slightly baggy already. I started at 52, currently at 46 and looks like I’m heading toward 44 fast. Someday I’d love to be back down around 34 or so, which is around what I wore in high school. If I can safely go even smaller then great!
- I do enjoy the “wow, you’ve lost a lot of weight” or “you are looking great” comments, even though they are just a nice way of saying “Hey, you are less fat now.” 🙂 So they are still a bit awkward but I’ll take it.
- Just being able to physically do more has been wonderful. I can stand up longer. I can walk further. For that matter I can walk at all without having to give it all the thought and scrutiny I once did.
- I’m actually starting to exercise and surprising myself. I have walked 15 minutes on the treadmill a few times. Do I hate it? Yes. Would it have been possible to walk even 5 minutes a few months ago? Nope.
- Losing weight and being successful at this is a confidence boost for sure.
- I save so much on fast food and eating out in general compared to what I used to. I still do those things but where a lunch may cost $13+ dollars, it’s usually $6 or so. And I don’t do them as much.
- I’ve starting fitting into restaurant booths again! Probably not all of them but I’ve set in a couple with no problem.
- My arthitis knee and back pain has decreased significantly! My knees used to hurt 24/7. The arthritis hasn’t gone away but the pain is so much less now on a day to day basis.
- My surgery and recovery went about as smooth as possible.
- Thankfully I haven’t dealt with some of the more common issues associated with the surgery (so far) including “Dumping” and “The Foamies.”
It’s not all roses. I knew going in this process would entail some struggles too
- Mentally I miss some of my old foods. I know this is purely mental as I used food as a comfort, but I miss pizza, sweet tea, Mountain Dew, shakes, Doritos, etc. I don’t miss them all the time but I do miss them.
- A lot of healther food, especially packaged food doesn’t taste great. It just doesn’t. It doesn’t have fat and salt and butter and carbs and sugar and it just doesn’t taste as good.
- Mental FOMO – You can feel left out when your family is eating the old way and you can’t. Also on the flip side of that is that I feel like my eating often deprives them of what they want.
- On that mental game, I still have a long way to go. There will come a period where I’m going to have to make choices for the crap I used to eat or the “food as fuel” idea. That’s hard to do in this society.
- I’ve had some cheats. Small things and in small amounts. Bites of ice cream, of cake, a solitary Pringle, etc. The other night, due to extenuating circumstances my dinner was 5 McNuggets. These things aren’t the end of the world at all but I do have to be very careful on these things because they are definately “sliders”…things that will push you back to your old ways of eating. I know I can’t eat the amounts I once did, but it doesn’t take much ice cream or milk chocolate to add up to weight gain.
- Pooping. Look, we are all adults here so I’m just laying it out. I miss regular pooping. I miss having normal poops with normal frequency. I was like a clock before…2 a day, you could set your watch. Now it’s not uncommon to go a few times or even a few days and not go. It sucks. And when you do, it’s like tiny rabbit poop and you think “there must be more somewhere?” but it never comes. I know I’m eating A LOT less than I used to but sometimes I just wonder what is happening down there. As of this writing it’s been about 36 hours and I feel yucky and bloaty.
- Stomach pains. I do get random stomach pains a lot more which kind of sucks too.
- Oddly, this has somehow negatively affected my sleep apnea equipment. The more I lose the more problems I’m having with the mask leaking, drying my mouth out to an extreme point, waking me up a dozen times a night. I hope the CPAP people will continue to work with me on that but so far everything I’ve tried hasn’t helped and it’s super frustrating.
- My knees feel better but some damage is done. There are still limitations there and until I address them, there probably always will be some.
- Fear of Failure. This is it. This surgery was my last ditch effort. What if I go through all of this, lose weight, then I slack and somehow gain everything or most of it back? What if I fail? It’s a constant thought amongst all the thoughts in my head.
There are other things, good and bad, I’m just not thinking of right now.
Is it worth it?
What’s the verdict? Is it worth the surgery, the new life style, the permenant stomach change?
I’m only 3 months out so it may be too early to tell but as of right now I will give a resounding…
YES! TOTALLY WORTH IT!!!
So let’s crank the tunes and keep rolling forward. I hope this time next year I’m on a whole new level with everything. We shall see!