abrown8434

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For the past few months my weight loss just stopped. I would keep going up and down by the same five pounds or more. Very discouraging when you are eating well and consistently exercising. To make matters worse, I was hungrier than ever and starving myself trying to stick with our stringent requirement. I was struggling to eat 800 calories and be below 50 grams of carbs.

Well, within less than five days, I am now 0.6 pounds away from my lowest! The funny thing is, in order to accomplish this, I had to eat a minimum of 1200 calories a day and up my protein to 110, 125 or more grams of protein. It was hard trying to eat protein every three hours along with the 10 plus glasses of water I drink a day, but I DID!!! Some days I have lost over a pound a day!!!!! I was burning over 2,000 a day with my workouts but i just couldn't make the scale go and stay down.

I am just glad that I found what works for me in the stage of the journey, (I am 16 months out), versus feeling so hopeless and broken. I refused to give up or have another form of bariatric surgery. I will be successful and make this work and my goal weight is finally closer! For any of you that need encouragement, I hope this has encouraged you.

The 600 to 800 calories will work during the first six months or so after WLS. However, for many of us, especially who are or have become extremely active, you will need to up the calories and protein (even if you don't up the carbs). I now try to make sure I am eating a minimum of twice the amount of protein as I am carbs which is what my doctor recommends. The body telling you its hungry or if you have increasing hunger as you are further out is a good thing. Just because you cannot eat very much at one time does not mean that the body isn't hungry or that you should not feed it something every few hours to keep the metabolism going. After all, it has been through a lot including starvation (for most). Now it's time to make it stronger and healthier as you continue on in the journey.

Okay, it has been 15 plus months since my surgery and my weight loss has stopped. I workout regularly, eat a an additional 10-15 grams of carbs more than I should some days, drink a minimum of 9 glasses of water a day and my hunger has returned triple time. So what is a girl to do?

1. I am learning to celebrate how far I have come. The weight loss game is just that: a game. You will lose sometimes, gain a few pounds sometimes, look fat in clothes sometimes and make the wrong choices. However, what victories do you have since WLS and whatever progress you have made?

2. The reality is, further out, the scale for most doesn't move as fast as it did during the "honeymoon period". Sorry, if no one ever told you that, they just did! So, although you must now fight for every single pound and watch every bite you put in your mouth like a crazy person, you still are living the dream of so many.

3. We are not defined by a SCALE! There are many victories along the way--ones that a scale can NEVER measure. I am focusing in 2013 on the completely different LIFE I have now--to me it is a life I have never experienced and I intend to enjoy EVERY SINGLE MINUTE OF IT!

4. At the end of the day all we can do is exercise, eat healthy, stay hydrated and LIVE. If the scale goes up or down, so be it. Now this is within reason. If the scale is going up 10, 15 or more pounds, that is definitely a warning to revamp and go back to basics before the problem is completely out of hand and you are back to square one.

Thought I would just give some encouragement and share some lessons I have learned recently. Applying these principles have brought such joy and liberation in my life! I am enjoying no longer being a slave to the scale and my new life. I am just as conscientious (if not more) about what I eat and just as serious about my exercise. However, I no longer feel like a failure just because the scale does not reflect all my hard work instantaneously. I have finally earned a curvalicious body and I intend to enjoy it!

Smooches and best of luck to you all. We may still have a long way to go until we are "normal" but we should walk with our head held high as if we own the world because we do. So what if people look at us and think we should have WLS instead of realizing that we have and how much weight we have already lost? We new the journey, the blood, sweat and tears and it is too much for the simple minds to grasp anyway!

Someone asked this question in the VSG forum and I thought it was worth sharing my response here:

Wow, as I ponder my answer, it makes me tear up. I am so happy to be a survivor! WLS has become so common that many of us take for granted the blessing of waking up from surgery, being complication free (or surviving the ones you had) and enjoying a new life--for many of us disease and medication free.

We can do things now that some of us, myself included, have never physically been able to do. We have a new hope, a new life that money cannot buy. It does not matter how far you are in your journey--you are a success and on the winning side. We must never forget that every thing we put in our mouth every second of the day will determine if our wonderful tool is just that or one more tactic that we failed. (P.S.: Failure is not an option because a bariatric altered body cannot withstand the extreme weight losses and gains like a non surgical body can. The host of heath problems, nutritional deficiencies of other side effects of complete weight regain are just not worth it. DON'T DO IT; Get back on track if you're off!)

We must never forget the gift of life we have received; I personally consider it a miracle. Let us also not forget the thousands that die every year waiting for this surgery or simply because their time ran out.

So today, Christmas and every day I thank God I am alive and that time did not run out. :o)

Seasons' Greetings,

Yesterday showed me just how much of an extreme makeover my weight loss has made. I went on an employee orientation which included walking around two water treatment plants and facilities. I know the good Lord strengthened me the entire time but I was just amazed at how I was able to walk around, not out of breath, hurting or sweating. In my previous years I probably would not have been able to do the tour. Either that or I would have had to lean a lot against stuff and may have felt lightheaded. I know I would have drawn attention with my profuse sweating.             To boot, I loved it when we went to Golden Corral for lunch and all I could eat was four spoons of soup, two bites of rice and four bites of bourbon chicken. I also had a few clam strips. I guess everyone thought I didn’t like my lunch but that was fine with me. I am thrilled to not be able to eat like a pig or even like everyone else. I may not look normal but for someone who could not stop eating, this new normal is WONDERFUL! I passed up cookies, dessert and junk. I had made a small salad but I simply could NOT eat it! I never thought I would be so happy about NOT EATING!             I am also happy to say that I am back on track! I now eat a high carb breakfast every morning. I recently switched from oatmeal to Farina. It is kind of strange because Farina goes down so easy that I feel I could have a bigger bowl of it but I don’t. Just three tablespoons has 22 grams of carbs but it keeps me from eating that and more throughout the day. At some point just meat will no longer work.             If I have to eat anymore carbs I try to reserve them for dinner. That way I have a better chance of not going over. I am still hitting the water like crazy and trying to squeeze in veggies where I can. Dr. Clark even said to me at support group to not focus so much on fat but carbs. He said there is no reason I have to eat lowfat or light cheese and he doesn’t like them either. He told me to just focus on the low carbs and everything else in moderation and I should be fine. So far he is right because I am back on track and I continue to be a source of inspiration!             Life is so much better for me. We even had one point on the tour where we walked up four flights of steps to see the landscape of one water treatment plant. There were a lot of steps and I took my time to make sure that I wouldn’t trip or hurt my knee. My victory was being able to climb all of those flights and NOT being out of breath! I wanted to cry but I held it in. I knew that one year ago there was no way I could do that. Even walking the halls here, as small of a building as this is, would have had me so out of breath and sweaty before and really hurt my knee.             People just do not understand what life is like when you are morbidly obese and the little things that others take for granted. I cannot believe that at 369.4 pounds, (yes I am only 3.6 pounds away from being back to my lowest since surgery), that I feel so normal and so many limitations are GONE! I can’t imagine what life will be like at 350, 325, 275, etc etc. Even though it was costly for me, I thank God for the debt and access to this wonderful MIRACLE that my gastric sleeve has been to me. All the minor inconveniences and lifestyle changes were worth it! There is an adjustment process but I would go through it to have the life that I enjoy now and the future that awaits me.             I could get up and down in the company van and not struggle. I didn’t have to have anyone help me with anything. I just got up and down like a normal person! I will be taking a road test on Monday and I am able to do that! I can put my seat belt on and not have to push the seat all the way back. I can just be normal and finally fit into regular society. This weight loss journey wasn’t about being skinny or cute or wearing high fashion clothes. This was about saving my life! I don’t mind if people look at me and would think I need to have weight loss surgery. I also don’t feel the need to tell everyone that I have had surgery anymore. They don’t know my story and they don’t know my struggle. Life is good and I am happy! If my life never progressed from this point forward it is still an AWESOME life! God I am so grateful! New job, new life, new hopes. I am truly a blessed and highly favored child of God!  

I just want to tell you that today is my 1 year surgery anniversary! And praise God, my total weight loss is 135.4! My labs came back and everything is PERFECT--no deficiencies or imbalances! God is too good!

To top it off, two days before my surgery anniversary, I was offered a new position I applied for with my company! So, I will be moving on with less stress and responsibilities and my own office! This surgery has really changed my life and I am so grateful for an awesome doctor, support staff and fitness plan!

I know I haven't posted a blog in ages but I now understand what the vets say about they are too busy out & living. Life is just simply wonderful and I cannot imagine what it is going to be like in another year or so when I am done with this process. I give myself a total of three years to be done.

I can say that I am truly blessed by VSG and so fortunate that I have had no complications or real concerns. Of course, every day is not perfect; there is a transition in learning how to live after VSG but I am coping well.

I wouldn't trade my new life for anything in this world :o).

I cannot believe this but I had a nice shopping trip today and I was surprised that I can fit a size 18 and 20 shirt (depending on the material)!!!! Here I was in a new store, afraid that I wasn't going to be able to fit most items because I have never been able to before. Well, I didn't fit a lot of items--because they were TOO BIG!!!!

This is one of the proudest moments of my life and I am in LOVE w/my VSG! (This is big for someone who once could not even shop in any plus size store because I wore a size 40 Womens or larger!) I cannot imagine what size I'll where with the next 100 lb loss!!!! In 6 months I lost 94 lbs and I am down a total of 117 lbs since May 2011! Life is GOOD!!!!!!!!!!!

I have never showed up to work and made anyone cry before but, when my co-workers saw me in one of the new outfits I bought that fit me well, they teared up. They were so proud of the weight loss thus far and the new waistline (actually having one) and trimmer physique just made them cry!

I love my VSG and those rare moments w/ WLS where your clothes actually fit!!!! Their reactions motivate me to keep fighting (eating right, exercising and staying healthy).

VSG has afforded me a life that I could once only dream of.

I thank God for a new life!!! Yesterday, after leaving work I spent the next couple of hours in three different stores. I had a great time and even bought six new shirts and a new bra. There is nothing like going from a 52F to a 50 DDD! I am now wearing shirts in size 2X and 1X in my favorite store and soon I will not be able to shop there. I am having a hard time finding clothes in their lower end sizes! The same store I once was too big to shop in, then dreamed of one day wearing a 2x and 1x, is now the same store I am getting to little for!               

I really enjoy being able to go into a store and then another and another and pick up items and just leave. Not sweating like a beast or drop dead tired after the first or second store! If this experience didn’t have me on top of the world, for the first time in 11 years (since buying my car brand new), I am able to wear my seatbelt! I didn’t know that five months would take me to points that I thought it would take a year or more to do! God is too good to me and I love my sleeve!

I don't know why but part of my new normal is to do double workouts whenever there is a holiday and I am off of work. So . . .

. . . today I completed two high intensity Water Aerobics classes (one being Zumba) and then spent 1/2 hour in the whirlpool. I follow that up this evening with two additional hours of the same followed by 1/2 hour in the sauna.

I am loving my sleeve and how awesome I feel with the loss. I even went shopping today and I two additional sizes down! I haven't worn this size is years and I could not be happier!!!!