One Year and Counting (with Pics)

**Copied from my blog**

Wow, today is exactly one year after my RNY surgery.  I have to say, it hasn’t been anything like I expected.  It has been ever so much better!

First, I’ll give you a body update, then a living life update (my most favorite part), then a honest look at the downsides of surgery.

Honestly, I don’t have a 12 month picture of me yet.  I still tend to be the one behind the camera.  What can I say, I love taking pictures of my family!  I do have a picture that was taken of me at 11 months and I haven’t really changed much since then, so I’ll use that.

First, the before pictures (435 pounds)

It’s hard for me to even remember myself that way.

Here are my after pictures. (208 pounds)

Now for the numbers:  I have lost a total of 228 pounds, 17 inches in my waist, 16 inches in my chest, and a whopping 25 inches in my hips.  I also keep track of biceps, neck, calves, thighs, and more; but I won’t bore you with all those measurements.   In clothes, I have gone from only being able to wear stretchy 5x/size 38 clothes to a size 16 pants with an XL or 1X top.

My weight loss has slowed down substantially.  Over the last 3 months, I have averaged losing a little under 2 pounds a week.  It feels much slower than that though.  I’ve only lost 2 pounds in the last month.  I’m trying to figure out ways to jump start my weight loss again- namely in the form of amping up the exercise.  Fun times, right?

That leads me right into my section on living.  I find that I still have some ‘morbidly obese mentality’ going on.  For instance, one of my nephews had a b-day party a short time ago where the theme was video games.  One of the games was a Just Dance competition on the wii.  It looked like so much fun and I really wanted to participate, but I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to do it, so I just sat back and watched.  Well, a week ago, I borrowed that same game, and I have been working it like crazy!  I am able to do just about every dance on there- without collapsing on the floor.    It’s my favorite form of exercise now.  I can do a lot more than I think I can do.  It’s time to step it up on the exercise front.  And I really need to buy my own Just Dance game so I can return this one…just sayin.

A year ago, I was so worried that I would never be able to eat yummy food again.  I shouldn’t have worried about it.  The first couple of months after surgery are pretty tough in the food (or lack of) department, but now I can eat food that is as delicious as it is healthy.  When you get away from the taste of fried everything, you really come to appreciate the taste of real food.  I love veggies of all sorts now and I don’t have to smother them in a sauce to be able to eat them.  I always carry around a couple of emergency snacks (protein bar, can of tuna, apple) with me in case I am caught out somewhere with no appropriate food choices.  That rarely happens though.  I can almost always manage to find something to eat wherever I am.  Last night my daughter had a concert and after the concert was a fundraiser meal- lasagna.  Mmmm!  I love me some lasagna.  I try to avoid noodles because they really don’t add any nutritional value and they are such a soft food, that I could eat way too much of it if I let myself.  So I just scraped the meat, cheese, and sauce off of the noodles and ate some of that with a few bites of salad.  Easy Peasy.  I can make choices like this with most any meal.  We had a Thanksgiving type meal at church and I chose about 2-3 oz of turkey, a tiny bite of mac and cheese and stuffing, about 2 tablespoons of corn and green beans, and some fresh fruit for dessert.  I have to admit that I miss the sweets.  Sometimes A LOT!  To me, it’s a good thing that sugar makes me terribly sick.  I could see myself drifting back into bad habits if I didn’t have that safeguard.  At the lasagna dinner, I had about 3 bites of John’s chocolate pie.  It was heavenly.  But it made me feel icky.  Not so much so that I dumped, but enough to make me want to go home.  I should have stopped at one bite.  I won’t pretend that those choices are easy. 

There are alternatives.  Two of the best websites for post bariatric surgery friendly recipes are The World According to Eggface and Bariatric Foodie.  I still eat off of saucers and use my little forks and spoons at home.  It’s much easier to eyeball my portion sizes this way. 

If I can remember, I’ll take a pic of my Thanksgiving meal this year and share it with you.  Last year on Thanksgiving, I was laying on the couch and recovering from surgery.  This year, I’ll do my best to make smart choices in the food department and just enjoy being with my family.

I am living life now.  One of the things that I am happiest about is still my new ability to take care of my home.  It’s just amazing to me that I can manage all of the cleaning by myself now.  The kids still do their chores of course, but I don’t have to rely on John (my hubby) to take up my slack.  I’m sure he is enjoying that fact very much!  I can chase the kids around at the park, swing with them, run the bases when we play ball.  I can slide down slides.  I can get up and down from the floor fairly easily.  I don’t worry about being able to fit in any seats.  I fit everywhere.  These are things that many people take for granted.  I pray I never do.  Things like this are what make the difficult parts of this journey worth it.  My husband can pick me up and carry me in his arms now.  I can snuggle in his lap.  {{Sigh}}  I just love it.  My six year old son can wrap his arms all the way around me. 

Now for the nitty gritty- beware, this may be considered too much information.  I apologize if you feel it is, but I really think that people who are considering surgery should know the bad along with the good.  And those who have had surgery need to know that they are not alone.

Aside from the fact that I can’t eat anything and everything (because that is not necessarily a bad thing), there are some down sides that I have experienced with RNY and substantial weight loss.  In a purely cosmetic sense, the parts of me that I keep covered up with clothes don’t look pretty.  I won’t post pics of those areas because that would just be inappropriate, but I have considered posting pics of my arms.  My saggy skin is just nasty.  It feels…odd and uncomfortable.  I wear one of those shapewear things under my clothes almost all the time.  It doesn’t do too much for making you look smaller, but it does keep my saggy skin from shaking around and feeling icky.  This is a very real problem.  It causes rashes; it shakes around to such an extent that I don’t enjoy swimming any more.  I can’t wear short sleeves because of my arms.  In my after pics, I have the skin tucked in behind me, but you can see it hanging over my elbows some.  If my belly skin was removed, I imagine I could wear a 12 or 14 pretty easily.

My tailbone pain is finally lessening after 8 months of not being able to sit comfortably.  It still hurts, but it’s getting better.

Constipation is a nightmare.  I use milk of magnesia and suppositories for every single time that I have to go.  I just don’t get the urge any more.  When 5 days time pass with no bm, I start the interventions.

I can not get in enough fluids.  This doesn’t appear to be something that happens to everyone.  My nutritionist is trying to figure it out.  I drink about a gallon of water a day.  It should be more than enough, but I still have symptoms of dehydration.  My mouth and lips feel dry.  I get leg and foot cramps.  Last week, I passed out 4 times in 30 minutes in the middle of the night.  My hubby called 911 and we went to the emergency room.  Nobody is positive about the cause, but since I was also having severe foot cramping the guesses were that I was either passing out from pain (not likely from my standpoint) or because of dehydration.  They didn’t do bloodwork, but I did get it done later that week and should have the results tomorrow.  That will tell me if I have any vitamin deficiencies.

I have to take vitamins every single day and they can get pricey.  I take a special iron, bariatric multi vitamins, B1, and b12.  I don’t take any prescriptions though!

 I went away a couple weekends ago to a women’s trip with several different churches.  One of the ladies there saw that I was having a tough time with wanting some food that I shouldn’t have and she asked me if it was worth it.  My answer was a resounding, “Yes!"  There are things that I have to say no to in the food areas, but there is way more that I can now say yes to in real living and that makes all the tough times more than worth it.

 You look absolutely amazing! And thank you for posting your story! I am 8 months out right now and down over 170 lbs. Our stories of post op are kind of similar, and isnt life awesome now?!! 

You look great. I would never have recognized you as the before person. Thanks for the honest negatives of WLS. I think people need to hear that yes there are some downsides but it is worth it to be healthy. Have you tried the monkey butt powder for the chafing?

I haven't tried the monkey butt powder, but I do use desitin creamy on a regular basis.  Smelling like a baby diaper is...interesting. LOL!

You look FANTASTIC!! It's amazing how when we lose weight in our face, we can actually see our eyes again now that they aren't hidden by all the fat. You don't even look like the same person.

I know that the sagging skin will be awful once I lose even more weight (plus I'm nearly 54 years old) so it's going to be ugly. I've always worn 3/4 sleeves to cover up fat and jiggly arms, so I'll just continue to wear them to then hide my batwings.

I think that even though the loose skin is ugly and nasty, it's still better than carrying all that huge amount of fat around with us!

May I ask when your tailbone pain started? How far out and how much weight had you lost when it started? That was one of my fears before I had this surgery and so far it's not happened, but of course I still have a LOT of weight to lose, so just curious.

Glad you have been doing so well, hope you get the passing out issue resolved asap!

Happy Thanksgiving!
Wynter

The tailbone started about 3 months after my surgery, best I can remember.  I lost 76 pounds before surgery, so my total weight loss at that point was probably around 125 pounds.  It's not fun and I didn't think it was ever going to get any better.  I am so relieved now that there has to be an end in sight.  And yes, I completely agree that saggy skin is WAAAYY better than having it filled in with fat!

Thank you for the honesty about how the first year has gone. I have my surgery in just over 2 weeks and I appreciate hearing the good and the bad. You look amazing!

Wow!! You look fantastic!

Congratulations, you look amazing!  You should be so proud of yourself!

I do have a question about the tailbone pain...when did that start for you?  I have noticed the same thing myself for the past 4 weeks, and I have to change positions a lot more frequently now.  Is there anything that helps it?

I think my tailbone pain started about 3 months after surgery, I had lost about 125 lbs at that point with preop loss included.  I'm sorry to say, that nothing I tried really helped.  Tylenol, donut pillows, etc.  I spend all of my time either standing up or laying on my side.  If I had to sit (like in the car)  I would lean forward as far as I possibly could, but the pain would still be horrible.  I hope yours doesn't get anywhere near that bad.