Post-Op Week 76 Progress Report: Heading Into the Holiday

Well, color me a little surprised.  I knew last week’s weight gain was water weight due to hormones, but I wasn’t expecting all of it to come back off and then some.  I wonder if some of the weight that came off is because I have been on an antibiotic that dehydrates me.  I got diagnosed with strep at the tail end of the week and felt pretty miserable the last few days but am feeling better now. 

This week I am traveling and will be eating away from home all week long.  I did pack workout clothes so that I can go to the gym while we’re at my in-laws.  I’m also hoping I can go for walks as long as it is not too cold outside since I break out in hives when I am exposed to the cold for too long.  Unfortunately, that means temperatures under 55 degrees F for me.  Any colder than that, and I welt up and itch uncontrollably all over.   And there is nothing I can do about it, so exercising outside during the winter is usually a no-go for me. 

I’m aiming to keep my weight either where it is now or lose some by January 1st so that I can stay sane through the holiday season.  After January 1, I’ll tighten things up a bit eating-wise and work on getting back to the gym on the regular.  I’d like to hit my goal weight by the time my 2-year checkup comes in July.  I think it’s not impossible but it won’t be easy.  I also need to get to work on strengthening my knees as much as I am able to before I have surgery in March.  I just want that time to hurry up and get here so I can start rehabbing my knee so I can start lifting weights with my legs again. 

Earlier in the week, my husband and I were at Costco buying food for the food pantry at his school.  His school is a Title 1 school, which means that many of the students are eligible for the free and reduced lunch program offered by the district.  During the week, the kids are fed breakfast and lunch at school but on the weekends and during breaks, many of them go without.  The school has a little food pantry where kids can pick up a few things to take home to eat so that they (and possibly siblings or other family members) have something to eat during the times when they are not at school.  He had mentioned that the food pantry at the school was running a bit low, and I said, “Well we haven’t done our Christmas shopping for charity yet this year, why don’t we just fill the pantry?”  So we did.

On our way out, we stopped by the dairy case and I looked inside at the butter. I’d been wanting to snap a photo with the amount of butter equivalent to the amount of weight I have lost from my heaviest weight for a while, so I got my husband to help me snap the photo. Here’s some perspective:

I’m holding 24 pounds of butter in the photo at left so you can see kind of how much space that takes up. In the photo at right, I’m holding a 4-pound package and standing in front of 9 cases of butter. The 9 cases plus one package is equal to the amount of weight I have lost from my highest recorded weight, which is 438 pounds.

It’s pretty mind blowing to see how much space 220 pounds of fat takes up. Until I saw it for myself, I couldn’t conceptualize just how big I really was before. I had been taking pictures of my weight loss with dumbbells, but those don’t show you an accurate accounting of the sheer volume that you lose when you lose fat. Butter, on the other hand, does, since it’s essentially what you’re losing: pure animal fat. Seeing 220 pounds of fat, knowing that not long ago I had carried that ON MY BODY really cemented for me just how incredible what I have done for myself truly is. I still have days where I don’t see myself as being as small as everyone says I am. I still see the 440-pound woman in the mirror and sometimes still negotiate the world as though I still take up the space I used to. It is odd. Dr. A was right, though: it does take your head about 2 years to finally get on track with your body. At this rate, I suppose I’ll finally be in sync by the end of 2016. 😉

This week, I am working on getting well again, as I am fighting off strep and the cough that’s accompanying the infection. I’m also going to work on keeping my eating in check since I will not be at home, and don’t have access to my usual food items. I’ll also be fighting inactivity since visits the in-laws involves an awful lot of that. 😦 I am going to try to be as active as I can so that I’m not sitting in the house all day tempted to eat because of boredom, which I am known to do. Wish me luck!