One of the easiest things to say, but hardest to do is not compare ourselves to others who had bariatric surgery at the same time we did. I'm about 9 weeks post op myself, and have come to terms with the following, which hopefully may help you:
1. Everyone loses weight differently. To hold someone else's success as our standard is dooming yourself to failure...frustration...and a higher level of recidivism back to your old eating habits.
2. From my own conversations with my surgeon/NUT...folks also lose weight relatively in proportion to how overweight they were to begin with. I was 242 pounds at 5'6"...and yet I was told I "wasn't that big". I'd love to lose weight faster too, but every person I've talked to has said the heavier you initially are, the faster the weight will initially come off. I believe it.
3. Take a good, close look at your diet. Find out your surgeon's recommendations for Protein, carbs, fat and total calories. I thought I was doing well enough until my first post op NUT visit where I found out I was expected to have only 30-50 grams of carbs a day. (increasing at about a year post-op) As someone who doesn't care for meat or dairy products, it's not leaving me with many choices. Add to that the disappointing discovery that my Vitamins (which we'll be taking for the rest of our lives) total 15 grams of carbs a day, it's really hard some days to keep my ingested carbs next to nothing.
4. Exercise is a horrible/beautiful thing. The hardest part is actually getting my butt up and getting started. I'm miserable and complaining in my head for a good 20 minutes on the treadmill, resenting every average weight yet lazy person I can think of But once you cross that "hump", walking can become addictive, especially if you use a step tracker or something like a FitBit or Jawbone. There are a number of step counter free apps for Smartphones out there, and before I got my FitBit, I used one to set daily goals for myself. I actually feel guilty and angry/determined if it gets to be dinner time and I haven't met my goal. Seeing those numbers turn green with a smiley face is very motivating to me. (As are a really good pair of walking shoes). Long story short, exercise will help with weight loss... seriously.
5. Your body has just gone through major surgery about 3 weeks ago- be gentle with it You'll still be healing for weeks yet, as your body tries to figure out what you just did and start letting go of the extra pounds instead of clicking into "starvation mode".
6. You've lost 13 pounds?? That's fantastic! That's 13 pounds less to carry around, and maybe 13 pounds more than you'd have lost trying another unsuccessful diet.
I'd be a big old hypocrite if I said I never compared myself to other folks who also had surgery in October. But I don't know their stories, just my own. I'll get there when I'm destined to get there. And I'll be thrilled
Congratulations! That's how I feel too - my family deserves to have a mom/wife that isn't tired all the time, can get up and do things with them without feeling blah, and will live longer and be here for them!
I got my date and I am full of various emotions. I am so ready to start a new. I deserve it, my family deserves it and I know that it is the right thing for me to do.
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