Since your surgery….

what’s been your biggest change?

what was the biggest surprise?

biggest challenge?

biggest personal victory?

5 hours ago, KimA-GA said:

Since your surgery….

what’s been your biggest change?

what was the biggest surprise?

biggest challenge?

biggest personal victory?

My Biggest change: I don't make excuses to avoid going out anymore.

Biggest surprise: how hard the first 4 to 6 months were, then how much I can actually eat now.

Biggest challenge: not to drink coke and eat all my favourite snacks

Biggest personal Victory: to many to list some small like being able to wipe my bum without feeling like I was going to do myself an injury, lol.

Here I will add one

Biggest disappointment: loosing my hair ? and loose skin but the trade off is worth it I think.......I do miss my hair though and the fact my last hairdresser visit was not good is making it worse

what’s been your biggest change? The level of energy I have. It's nuts. I am so motivated to do things now, and that's with me still being 120 lbs heavier than a normal BMI. It's been great, and it has led to other changes like exercising so much more, accomplishing more house goals, and just generally being happier and more stable emotionally (even with all the weight loss-induced hormonal situations).

what was the biggest surprise? I thought I would mourn not being able to eat a lot, and I really don't. Sure, sometimes I wish I could just scarf down a big plate of whatever, but then I start eating and I have the amount I can have, and I am ok with it. I thought I would feel deprived and sad but I really do not.

biggest challenge? Not comparing myself to others. I'm a year out, and while I am happy with what I have lost, I can't help but compare myself to others who started out with similar stats but have dropped a whole lot more weight. Or even more, people who started out even smaller but lost more weight! It's tough not to compare but I'm constantly working on it...

biggest personal victory? This one is tough. I'd say the fact that I now workout 5x a week for 45 minutes and enjoy it? I don't have to talk myself into it as much as I used to, and I feel compelled to do it.

The most interesting revelation in considering these questions is that WLS has not been the overwhelming consideration over the years.

what’s been your biggest change? Seating. When travelling, airline seat size is no longer a consideration. When renting a car, seat size is no longer a consideration. Theater seat sizes are no longer a consideration. Restaurant seat or booth sizes are no longer an issue. Folding chairs are no longer fear inducing.

what was the biggest surprise? I honestly don't recall any surprises. I had done crazy research before I decided on WLS, so there were no surprises related to surgery, the recovery, the diet, or anything. I wasn't concerned with the post-op diet because proteins were my favorite parts of meals. Can the biggest surprise being that there were no big surprises?

biggest challenge? The one challenge I took seriously is that weight and dieting would not be the center of my life once I lost my weight. I was not going to be on a diet for the rest of my life. My surgeon's plan was basically that I started with my lifetime maintenance diet from day one. So, from day one I started building my lifetime habit so that by time I lost my excess weight my lifetime eating habits had been built into me. So my biggest challenge was anti-climatic, it was my new normal. Additionally, a major aspect of this is that I don't weigh at home. I only weigh at my annual physicals

biggest personal victory? This is probably the easiest questions of the four. I ran 5 marathons, one of which was the San Francisco marathon where I got to run across the Golden Gate Bridge. I ran two Long Beach Marathons, which started and ended at the Queen Mary. One was the Surf City Marathon. So 4 marathons were on the Pacific Coast. The 5th was the Valley of Fire Marathon which was just outside of Las Vegas.

Biggest Change: I developed a wheat allergy after surgery (3% chance. They don't warn you) so learning to check every label for ingredients so as to not make myself sick has been a new experience in paranoia, and I have to cook every meal in my house because going out to eat is almost impossible when you have a wheat allergy.

Biggest Surprise: My clothing size. When I was in the 180's when I was in middle school I was a size 16. That's what I expected to be. I'm a 12 in jeans and a medium in tops. That was a shock. A pleasant one. But a shock.

Biggest Challenge: I have had a Trigeminal Neuralgia flare since April 2022 and was put on an anti-convulsant (Gabapentin) that caused me to gain 18 pounds. Now that I'm weaning myself off of it after being put on a different one (Oxcarbazepine) I've lost about half of the weight I gained, but am struggling to lose the other half. I stress out over that extra weight so much...

Biggest Personal Victory: For me, it was getting out of the 'obese' category and being 'overweight' instead. I cried.