Lost--80 Pounds. Do not return to owner! (Long post, pics!)
This is almost where I started. I have worse pics than this. But this is the night before I had my surgery.
As of this morning I have lost 80 pounds.
This is a huge milestone for me. A year ago today my husband and I hadn't even begun talking about WLS. If I'd known where I'd be today, I think I would have fainted!
(I've been a slower loser than I needed to be because several times I made choices not to stay on strict plan and have pretty much been on maintenance for awhile (though not calling it that) because I haven't been hard-pressed to get to goal fast. I knew I was getting there slowly and that was fine with me. Thing is, I have been able to have this attitude because I started out as a lightweight and had less than 100 pounds to lose. if I'd had more, I would never have given myself the opportunity to slow things down for fear of not ever reaching my goal. But I've always known what I needed to do to lose, and that's what the vets here recommend, don't ever assume my choices reflect anything but my specific choices in specific difficult periods of time and my sleeve rocks. I went through those times without struggling and without gaining, and that is HUGE. I simply chose not to stress over staying under 600-800 calories when it was difficult for me to be in charge of my own diet. And to clarify, I could have certainly made the effort to stay in control of my own diet, and would have if I had been concerned about having to lose too much weight after the honeymoon period was over.)
One year ago today I hadn't even considered WLS. If anyone had told me what my weight would be today, I would have, A, assumed I must be about to get very sick, and B, fainted!
My weight today is my original goal weight. It's the weight I stated (with great trepidation, afraid I was deluding myself) when my surgeon asked me if I'd considered a goal weight.
155 pounds.
He did the mental number-crunch, nodded and shrugged and said, "That works." He went onto say that the surgery itself would get the 80 pounds off, but what happened next was totally up to me.
I felt light-headed over the number I'd just set for myself.
I went to my family doctor and after he gave me some tough-love reactions to WLS--that its success depended entirely on MY commitment--and I made it clear I was going to do it--he smiled and said, "It will change your life."
Has it ever!
But he asked if I had any idea what weight I thought was a good weight for me. And I'd had a little time to consider and said (this time TRULY quaking in my boots), "I became a lifetime member of WW at 147 pounds. I don't think I've weighed less than that since the early 70s."
He looked startled and said, emphatically, "That's too low for you at your age, your height, your frame." He nodded and agreed that 155 was a good number.
But you know what? It wasn't very long before I changed my number here on OH to 145. I did not cut out 85% of my stomach to just get barely into the "normal" range for my height. And I told myself at that time that if I didn't make it to 145, no big deal. But I was going to set that target.
And now my target is 135, which is still well within normal and nowhere near underweight.
But I'm not looking ahead to those challenges. I'm taking stock of where I am now, today, that I never dreamed I'd be again in my lifetime. A place that--had I ever thought it possible to get here, I would have been happy to stay here for the rest of my life.
I started my preop diet at 235 pounds. (My highest weight ever was over 250.) I was on blood pressure meds, antidpressants, slept with a CPAP, wore 2X size clothes and truly needed to be in 3X. I am 5'7" tall and at that time was 58 years old. (I'm 59 now.) I had high cholesterol but wasn't taking meds for it, plantar fasciitis in one foot that had done its best to ruin a vacation to Europe, and various other creaks and aches and weight-related difficulties.
Today I am 80 pounds lighter. What size I wear varies but in general I'd say a Medium.
My cholesterol is "beautiful." No BP issues, no meds. No CPAP machine. I am so freaking healthy when you look at my labs, it's startling. My BMI went from 36.8 to 24.3.
I look great in clothes. GREAT. I am astonished and sometimes bounce up and down and giggle when I try on a new outift. Sometimes I am almost moved to tears. And body image was never the reason I did this, so this is a side benefit that has really caught me off guard.
I can walk around for hours without getting tired or sore. I can run/jog in place for 30 minutes when doing my wii fit and could probably go longer but just haven't tried.
I CAN WEAR A PENCIL SKIRT.
I am continuing my slow slide down. We'll see where I land. But color me happy, people. And thank you to all of you--vets, newbies, everyone who posts and shares. You have inspired me and kept me going.
Lap Band 2006
VSG 2008
