EIGHT months?!?!

I was pulling up my sagging jeans at lunch, and my girlfriend joyfully laughed at me. I hadn't even realized I was needing to pull them up... But they're 16s, so, they were falling down... So I was telling her that I'd lost 106 lbs so far, and I stopped to figure out how long ago my surgery was.... EIGHT months?!?! WOW!

A few STATS for you... I've lost 38.4% of my starting weight of 276. My starting BMI was 48.9 which was morbidly obese, and my current BMI of 30.1 is just a tad over the 29.9 that is considered overweight. In the first month post-op, I lost about 33 lbs, in the next month I lost about 15, and in the months since I've been losing about 8-10 pounds a month. At that rate, I would reach my goal in about another 5 months. Truth is, though, that I'm not controlling the weight loss, my body is. It is possible that I'll get to my personal goal and keep losing. It is also possible that the honeymoon post-op weight loss will end before I reach my goal, and if I decide I want to get to it, I'll have to make some additional adjustments in my diet and exercise routines to get down to where I want to be. Believe it or not, the surgeons can't even predict what each patients' body will do or how long the weight loss period will continue for each patient.

In many ways, it seems like it was just a few weeks ago since I had my surgery. In other ways, the new ways of life are so ingrained in my daily routine that I do them without thinking much about them anymore. I don't even WANT soda or sugar in my tea or coffee. I reach for the splenda without giving it a second thought. I order smaller portions as if that's what everyone does. (You know you don't though, right?) I instinctively aim for protein rich foods for meals and even when I order my Starbucks coffee... There's a reason I do lattes! That milk is full of protein! I even add skinny to my SB orders without thinking twice now. I don't think twice about stopping to chew up all of my daily chewable vitamins each morning.

It's incredible to think of the many, many ways my day to day life has changed since last April. I found a good deal and bought a new Nautica rain jacket today. It's a Petite Medium. WHAT?!? I even bought a swimsuit and underwear at Costco a week or so ago, and Costco didn't use to have ANYTHING in my size. My closet is less cluttered with clothing than it has been since elementary school, I try to regularly purge everything that's over one size too big since my size keeps getting smaller. I have applied to be selected for a mission trip in Cambodia next summer. I didn't have to stop and think about how horrible that many hours would be in the airplane's tiny seats.... because I'll fit in them no problem now! We don't have to request tables instead of booths at restaurants anymore, we're comfortable in either now. We can typically find something at any restaurant that we can order. We enjoy sharing a dish and then bringing home leftovers from our neighborhood Chinese restaurant. We even went out for mexican for the first time a few weeks ago. Movie Theater and church seats are comfortable again. That wedding ring that used to be so tight I'd need water and lotion to get it off each night is way too loose now. I enjoy getting dressed in the mornings, as it's fun to put on my clothes and feel pretty in them. I can get up and down off the floor during Waumba Land on Sundays like I'm in my twenties again, and even while holding a toddler!

Is everything easy breezy? Not entirely. I do still have to pay attention to drinking enough fluids each day. I also haven't been walking the way I intended to be. I do enjoy it, but it is easy to talk yourself out of it when it's dark and cold and rainy outside or you didn't bring the clothes to stop at they gym to use the treadmill. I will return to swimming when there is more daylight and it isn't too cold outside, but that just isn't something I'll be willing to do during the winter months. I'd be a wreck without stool softeners, I have to take them daily or I'd be in big ol' trouble. (Sorry if that was TMI for you!) I do sometimes wish I could take Aleve or Ibuprofen, but am often pleasantly surprised at how well Tylenol can help. I give in to sweet items more often than I should, though at least they are in much smaller portions than they once were. For my recent 38th birthday, I enjoyed 3 different birthday cakes 3 days in a row, but could only enjoy small portions of them. And I ate too much of one, and let me tell you that dumping syndrome is very real.

I still eat plenty of lowfat cheesesticks, yogurt, and reduced fat peanut butter. I most always have a glass of milk before bedtime. Somehow I haven't grown tired of those things, thank goodness. Oh, I still can't eat most bread. Today I did ok with a roll at O'Charley's; YUM. Oh, and recently I have been able to enjoy a little tea or water with my meals, which is a new improvement. (-:

So, that's the gist of things for me now, 8 months post-op! Even if I didn't loose another ounce, I'd be thrilled with my decision to have surgery. Knowing that I should certainly get to my minimum goal of 145 is wonderful. Seeing and believing in the possibility of actually getting back to a nice looking figure at 134 is amazing, especially at my current age of 38! Knowing, especially in the over 150 lb range I am currently in, that as I lose pounds those are pounds I will refuse to allow myself to ever again gain is very powerful.

I have a new found hope and excitement about my future and how God may be able to work through me in this much improved body of mine! I am so very grateful for the many blessings in my life!