This week’s progress is good, considering I was traveling the last three days of the week. I am away from home so this week’s series of photos is at my mother-in-law’s, which made it challenging to know where to stand and all that. So there’s no good comparison between this week’s photo and last week’s. The stubborn pound and some that I’ve been struggling to get off finally took its leave, and the scale has headed down again.
Posted in being thankful, challenges, choices, eating, exercise, goals, habits, la guerra, meal planning, oh behave!, post-op, progreso, reflections, success, the sleeve, vsg, weight loss surgery, werk!
Tagged habits, la guerra, oh behave!, post-op, progreso, progress report, reflections, sleeve gastrectomy, success, the struggle is real, VSG, vsg realness, werk!, WLS
Slightly up on the scale this week. I think it’s probably due to the eating out that happened this week. I need to dial that back this week as much as possible since we will be heading out of town at the end of the week, and eating out is mostly what we’ll be doing. We will be at my mother in law’s for part of the time we’re gone, which is good because we’ll be eating at home pretty much all that time. When we go visit, I generally do all the cooking because my MIL is arthritic and spending long periods of time on her feet, bending and stooping is really painful for her. So I help out by cooking for all of us while we are there. I also load up her freezer with pre-cooked meals so that all she has to do is reheat them.
But spending time there is also a bad thing because the only thing we tend to do while we’re visiting is sit, sit, sit, and sit some more.
Posted in challenges, exercise, la guerra, oh behave!, planning, post-op, progreso, the body is a funny thing, the sleeve, vsg, weight loss surgery, werk!
Tagged behavioral fatigue, challenges, exercise, fighting the fat girl, frustrated fat, I work out, la guerra, oh behave!, omg I eat carbs!, planning for success, post-op life, progreso, progress report, she's got skillz, shit is hard, sleeve gastrectomy, the body is a funny thing, the sleeve, the struggle is real, travel, traveling, vacation, VSG, vsg realness, werk!, what's up doc?, WLS, workin' on my fitness
…I physically started the march toward better health.
A year later, I am nearly 173 pounds lighter. I am
There is still work to be done, and 54 more pounds to lose. I feel like what I have done in a year’s time is nothing short of phenomenal.
And I haven’t even hit my one-year post-op mark yet. Just wait.
Posted in big things, celebrations, la guerra, post-op, progreso, reflections, success, the sleeve, vsg, weight loss surgery
Tagged big things, celebrations, la guerra, milestones, post-op, post-op life, progreso, reflections, she's got skillz, shit is hard, sleeve gastrectomy, success, the sleeve, VSG, vsg realness, WLS
No change on the scale this week. I don’t know if it’s me getting used to being at home now and not being as active (although I went to the gym 3 times this week AND did a 2-mile walk yesterday) or if this is my body trying to settle in a new weight range for a little bit. No loss is better than a gain but it isn’t any less frustrating. I know I need to be patient, but it’s getting harder to be patient the closer I get to both my doctor’s goal and my own goal. And I’m not that far from either of those things.
Posted in challenges, choices, exercise, fighting biology, goals, habits, la guerra, oh behave!, post-op, progreso, the sleeve, vsg, weight loss surgery
Tagged being authentic, being real, challenges, exercise, fighting biology, fighting the fat girl, frustrated fat, head trip, I work out, la guerra, oh behave!, planning for success, positive self-talk, post-op life, progreso, progress report, relationships, relationships and WLS, she's got skillz, shit is hard, sleeve gastrectomy, the body is a funny thing, the sleeve, VSG, vsg realness, WLS, work that head game, workin' on my fitness
Ignore my Mexi-fro. It was really humid here today as it rained all morning, and my hair needs to be cut.
These are the shorts I wore at my heaviest weight. And they were tight then.
I’d purposely kept them when I started this path because I wanted a stark reminder of where I started. I never wanted to forget where I came from.
Tonight I got to thinking, I wonder if I can do that thing where you put both legs inside the one leg of a pair of pants? So I dug up the shorts, and gave it a try.
I felt the catch in my throat when I was able to pull the single leg up over both my thighs. I thought, no way…holy shit, I was this big? What in the hell? How?
I didn’t think I’d ever be able to do this.
Yet here I am: two legs in one pants leg. With room.
54 pounds from my goal and chugging toward maintenance.
I got this.
Posted in big things, celebrations, goals, head trips, la guerra, NSV's, post-op, progreso, reflections, success, the sleeve, vsg, weight loss surgery, werk!
Tagged big things, bigger than my body, celebrations, goals, head trips, NSV's, post-op life, she's got skillz, sleeve gastrectomy, the sleeve, things of win and awesome, VSG, vsg realness, werk!, WLS
Those who know me know that there are things that I am very, very passionate about: biology; science; Mad Men, and consequently, Jon Hamm; learning, and education.
I’d like to start by saying that education is the thing in life I am most passionate about because I cannot and will not abide by ignorance or stupidity. So imagine my ire when I read this article posted today in one of the online support groups that I belong to:
I Don’t Support Weight Loss Surgery
It is written by one Amy McCarthy, who claims to be a proponent of Health At Every Size, which is a movement that emphasizes healthy living behaviors no matter what your size, as well as the acceptance of all body shapes and sizes. I can get behind this philosophy, because even when I get to my goal weight, I will still be considered overweight (nay, obese) by medical standards. I can also be down with accepting folks of all shapes and sizes, because I don’t think it’s right to discriminate against someone or shame them based on their size, whether it is large or small.
Yet this author boldly states:
I won’t shame anyone for their choices.
By spending a few thousand words focusing on what she perceives to be the negative aspects of WLS and why she feels it’s bullshit, she does exactly that, and totally discredits herself in doing so.
Not surprised by this week’s progress, as it follows the pattern I have come to know over the last few months. I have made a few tweaks to my program in the past two weeks and I think they are paying off. Continue reading
Posted in big things, celebrations, challenges, exercise, goals, la guerra, NSV's, oh behave!, post-op, progreso, reflections, self-image, success, the body is a funny thing, the sleeve, therapy, vsg, weight loss surgery, werk!
Tagged benefits of wls, exercise, goals, head trip, I work out, la guerra, Lane Bryant, little celebrations, plan for success, plus-size fashion, post-op life, progreso, progress report, reflections, she's got skillz, sleeve gastrectomy, success, summer schedule, the sleeve, things of win and awesome, vitamin supplements, VSG, vsg realness, WLS, work that head game, workin' on my fitness
On the eve of my 11-month post-op mark, this happened:
On the left: me, minus 215 pounds. This represents what I’ve lost since I weighed my heaviest.
On the right: me, minus 172 pounds. This represents what I’ve lost since I began this process nearly a year ago.
I am at exactly 70% of my excess weight lost. I’m aiming for 90%. As I told my surgeon last May when he said that most of his patients lose around 70% EWL, “That’s not good enough for me. I am an ‘A’ student.”
I am within 5 pounds of my surgeon’s weight goal. I will get there before my 1-year appointment next month.
I still have 55 pounds to go to get to my goal. I have no reason whatsoever to believe that I won’t get there. It just won’t be in record time, and I’m okay with this. My objective is to be healthy above all else.
I’m aiming for March 2015. This is not unreasonable. With the exercise I’m doing, continued therapy and support group attendance, and staying with my current eating plan (with tweaks here and there), I fully believe I’ll get there.
It will be the second best birthday present ever. Having my surgery was the first.
Posted in celebrations, goals, la guerra, post-op, reflections, success, the sleeve, vsg, weight loss surgery, werk!, what's up doc?
Tagged 70% EWL, benefits of wls, goals, la guerra, milestones, photo post, post-op life, she's got skillz, shit is hard, sleeve gastrectomy, sorry for sleeve rocking, success, things of win and awesome, VSG, vsg realness, werk!, what's up doc?, WLS
This week’s progress is following the pattern that I have come to recognize at this time of my cycle: slight gain before my period, followed by a slightly larger loss. So I’m hopeful that next week will show a loss on the scale. I knew I was a little puffy this morning when I got up and my feet felt stiff and turgid and my rings were a bit more snug. That’s the big indicator that I’m retaining water, aside from feeling bloated and having tender breasts. That’ll come later in the week, I’m sure. UGH.
My eating wasn’t horrible this week but it wasn’t the best either. Gotta get my eating priorities in order and aim for goal. So glad this is the last week of school so I can spend more time focusing on getting to where I eventually want my weight to be. I also need to set smaller goals for myself with rewards–I haven’t done this in a while. I am 5 weeks away from my 1-year mark, and I’m not close to where I want to be by the time I see my doctor again–still 9 pounds away from doc’s goal, but 19 from where I want to be by July 10, when I see him for my 1-year appointment.
DISCLAIMER: Under the cut, you’re going to encounter what a body that has lost nearly 170 pounds (nearly 210 from its heaviest weight) really looks like. If you’re post-op, then you have likely encountered the same sights. If you’re pre-op, just consider the photos you’ll see prep for what lies ahead for you, especially if you have over 100 pounds to lose. And if you’re drinking the Haterade because you see fat shaming as sport, just move along. I don’t have time to trifle with people of your ilk. You see, one of the unspoken benefits of having lost all this weight is that the degree to which I care what others think is quite low. In fact:
about what you think about how I look. I don’t suffer any fools. SN: I love this meme…
Now that I’ve got that out of the way, let me proceed with the rest of the post after the jump.
Posted in challenges, exercise, frustrated fat, goals, la guerra, post-op, progreso, reflections, self-image, the body is a funny thing, the sleeve, vsg, weight loss surgery
Tagged being authentic, being real, body image, challenges, exercise, fighting the fat girl, frustrated fat, goals, Heavyweight Yoga, I work out, la guerra, loose skin, love thyself, oh behave!, post-op life, progreso, progress report, sagging skin, self-image, she's got skillz, shit is hard, sleeve gastrectomy, the body is a funny thing, the sleeve, VSG, vsg realness, werk!, WLS, work that head game, workin' on my fitness, wtf body?, yoga
La Guerra de La Gorda 