One year ago today i was so grateful that they let me suck on ice chips. It had been a long night after my surgery and my mouth was so dry. I never thought ice chips could taste so good. A year later i am down "officially" at my doctors 76 lbs. I say 80 lbs on my home scale. I have not weighed 190 lbs since 1987 and even when I weighed that much back then I was not wearing the size cloths I am today. Prior to surgery my jeans were 44/46", shirt 2x or 3x depending on style. Today my jeans are a 36" waist and my shirts are a L mens or XL in womens and mostly because my arms are still kind of chunky.
I have had so many positive things happen this due to this surgery, the greatest of those being that I am more healthy than I have ever been in my whole life. Prior to surgery my blood pressure was 135 over 90 taking 2 medications. I had a cholesterol level close to 300 and my body was a mess. My back hurt, my feet hurt, my knees hurt and I could walk a 5K but I complained about it the entire way and I certainly couldn't do it everyday.
Today, no more meds, blood pressure is 115/68, cholesterol under 200 and I easily walk 4.5 miles a day and I'm working my way up to 6. I can run close to 2.5 miles without stopping and I think I stop more due to boredom than ability. There is no doubt that I have NO REGRETS and if faced with the same decision knowing what I know now I could have easily calmed all my fears from a year ago because it was all wasted energy.
Now for what I did wish I had known because I know it would have helped me be more successful, and it is only one thing. I wish the day my doctor said to me that my stomach was healed and I could really eat anything had never occurred; I wish he never said it or that I didn't hear it, because for me it changed everything.
Prior to that day I was cautious and strict with my diet. I was losing 7-8 lbs a month and I didn't want to mess anything up. After that day I felt like I was given the green light to "go ahead"; "give it a shot", "what can it hurt". What a mistake! All I needed was that little crack in the door to wake up that little red devil in my ear which returned me immediately to my struggle to control my addiction to food and my weight loss fell to a trickle. immediately I went from 7 or 8 lbs a month to 2 or 3. And it wasn't because I was eating a lot but the introduction of 100 or so calories of this or that not previously allowed was enough to turn whatever had been turned on; off completely.
So one year out I have no regrets and I move forward on my journey continue battling my demons in order to reach my goal weight (which I will do) but if I leave a newbie with any sort of advice it would be -When they say you can eat anything DON'T DO IT!! It was a game changer for me and I don't want it to be a game changer for you.
That's it - onward and upward. I updated my profile pic. As always - thanks to you all for support and a special shout out to Ann2, thenewmetoday, aydensmomma, llburbach, and Ika (whatever happened to Ika? - I still worry about her) for inspiration and support early on and throughout this past year. I couldn't have done it without you!