In anticipation of my upcoming one-year "surgiversary" (next Tuesday! April 13, 2010!), I'm setting a little numerical goal: the 170s. I want to be at least 179.9 on Tuesday morning.
This is slightly ambitious. As you may know, I'm losing weight at a slow crawl at this point. My weight fluctuates + or - 10 pounds sometimes. But I've lost about 2 pounds over the past week or so, and this morning I got a bunch of different readings ranging from 181.6 to 179.3, with a mode of 180.0 (I think my scale may be a little on the fritz.) I probably won't meet this goal if the 181.6 reading was correct, but if the 180.0 was right, I should definitely be able to lose 0.1 pounds in 5 days - I think.
I've gotten more into activity goals, like participating in walk/run events or going to certain yoga classes. Numerical goals tend to be bad news in general, but especially for people like me for whom weight loss does not seem to correlate with plan adherence. For example, I lost weight this weekend, even though I went on a crazy carb spree that included Fiber One cereal, honey wheat dinner rolls, and sugar-free triple chocolate fudge ice cream. I'd planned to give myself that leeway, so I don't feel guilty about it, but it was still off-plan. A month ago, I was gaining weight despite following a low-carb, high-protein eating plan and exercising regularly.
For this reason, I won't be bent out of shape if I don't make the goal, or if my weight takes a turn upward. As long as I'm doing what I'm supposed to do, I'll be cool with it.
So, April 13th goal: 179.9. Root for me!
Showing posts with label Onederland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Onederland. Show all posts
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Friday, February 26, 2010
Not Obese. Claiming It.
This morning, my lovely scale reported that my weight is 182.6 pounds. At 5'6.5", my current BMI is 29.0. I'm 5.9 pounds below 188.5, the weight at which someone my height has an "obese" BMI of 30.0.
It's great to see the numbers moving down again after such a long hiatus. More stalls are in my future, and I'll fluctuate up again, possibly even 5 pounds. But even so, my weight will be below the obesity line.
My weight has been below 188 in recent days/weeks, but I wasn't confident enough in the numbers to officially declare myself "overweight" (with good reason - on Tuesday morning, the scale said I was 189.) But now I'm feeling secure in this transition.
I'm overweight, y'all!
It's great to see the numbers moving down again after such a long hiatus. More stalls are in my future, and I'll fluctuate up again, possibly even 5 pounds. But even so, my weight will be below the obesity line.
My weight has been below 188 in recent days/weeks, but I wasn't confident enough in the numbers to officially declare myself "overweight" (with good reason - on Tuesday morning, the scale said I was 189.) But now I'm feeling secure in this transition.
I'm overweight, y'all!
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Riddle Me This . . .
As you know if you're one of the few people who read this blog, my weight has been fluctuating between 187 and 194 or so for the past month. In order to stop being "obese" per the BMI charts, at 5'6.5" I need to weigh 188 or less. Even at 188, I'm still at the top of the "overweight" BMI range. A "normal" weight of 156 is still a long way off.
So, how is it that I'm able to wear several size S shirts? Granted, most of them came from stores with generous "vanity-sizing" like The Gap and Ann Taylor Loft, but the shirts are still on the smaller end of the sizes of their target demographic. And of course, being able to wear an S sweater doesn't mean I can wear an S button-down shirt. Nonetheless, I wasn't squeezing into these shirts. One of my size S Gap tees is actually a little too big. I wore a size S sweater to work yesterday, so it's not like I'm forcing my body into clothes that are too tight to wear in public. I wore one of my S tees to yoga last night also.
How does someone who is obese qualify to wear any interpretation of a "small"?
I don't know what to think. My tummy and thighs are still quite chunky (I can barely get into size L on the bottom), so this may explain some things.
So, how is it that I'm able to wear several size S shirts? Granted, most of them came from stores with generous "vanity-sizing" like The Gap and Ann Taylor Loft, but the shirts are still on the smaller end of the sizes of their target demographic. And of course, being able to wear an S sweater doesn't mean I can wear an S button-down shirt. Nonetheless, I wasn't squeezing into these shirts. One of my size S Gap tees is actually a little too big. I wore a size S sweater to work yesterday, so it's not like I'm forcing my body into clothes that are too tight to wear in public. I wore one of my S tees to yoga last night also.
How does someone who is obese qualify to wear any interpretation of a "small"?
I don't know what to think. My tummy and thighs are still quite chunky (I can barely get into size L on the bottom), so this may explain some things.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Ten Months, and the Honeymoon's Over.
It's February 13, 2010, my ten-month "surgiversary."
On my nine-month surgiversary, I weighed 191.9. This morning, I weighed 190.0. So I've lost about 2 pounds in a whole month. Apparently my RNY "honeymoon," the period of rapid weight loss that usually lasts for about a year, is totally to' up and ovah.
I consider 2 pounds a plateau, or what we in the WLS community refer to as a "stall." However, labeling this simply as a "stall" obscures some of the craziness that's been going on with my weight over the past month.
My weight has been as low as 186.4, on January 23. Over the next 2 weeks or so, my weight crept back up to 194, then back down again. Over the past week, I've been weighing in the high 180s, usually between 187 and 188. For some reason, this morning I went back up into the 190s decade. ::Sigh.:: My weight has wildly fluctuated and seems to be completely out of my control.
I'm not sure what, if anything, I'm doing to cause this. About a week ago, I decided to give more calories a try. My daily calorie goal, at least for the next week or so, is 1,000. That's 100-200 more than I'd been eating before, and I've been reaching it by adding a morning protein shake. I've been exercising quite a lot, mixing cardio, yoga, Pilates, and the occasional traditional resistance workout. The only day I missed this week was Sunday, and that's because I was traveling. I need to buy the body fat analyzer, I guess. I'd be more comfortable with my body weight staying the same if I knew my body fat % was improving. In any event, the whole "calories in/calories out" line is not true for me whatsoever. I may try the 3-day liquid diet sometime soon.
If this stall can be tied to my nutrition intake, the only thing I can think of is sugarless gum, which I do not log. My thought with the gum is that since chewing gum burns calories, I don't worry about counting the minimal calories in it. The problem is that I burn fewer calories chewing the gum than I take in because I chew so much. I can go through 2-3 packs in a workday; it's almost become a replacement for compulsive eating, a transfer addiction. However, sugarless gum is generally a good weight loss habit because it keeps me from eating other things. (In fact, it's often featured on The Biggest Loser as a nifty weight loss tool.) I've gone some workdays without it, and too often I've eaten nuts or something otherwise off my daily plan when I could have just chewed the gum. I may try to give it up again, or at least cut back. It's an expensive habit, anyway.
Perhaps the stall is a result of being obese almost my whole life. Susan Maria Leach recently posted about this on her message board. She said that people who grew up normal-sized but became morbidly obese as adults "tend to drop down in weight like a rock to often below goal, and quite a few of these folks have to hang in and actually slow weight loss. . . . Some even have trouble keeping enough weight on." Conversely, people like me "are the ones who really have to fight for goal weight and have a greater tendency to top out heavy. IF people are going to gain most or all of the weight back, they are usually from this group. . . . [S]ince this group never had a set point for the body to use as a reference, it's tougher for the body to get there and stick it." Susan Maria emphasized that these are just trends she's recognized over the years; they aren't the Gospel of Gastric Bypass or anything.
Nonetheless, she might have pinpointed what's going on with me. I was chunky by the age of 5. I was wearing size 22/24 when I was 13. When I graduated high school, I was rejected health insurance because I was 330. My lowest adult weight was 210, and then I was squeezing into 18s. Now I'm 190 and wear size 14 on the bottom and usually a Medium top. My body is like, "Whaaaa? What's going on?!"
As I mentioned in a post earlier this week, it may simply be unrealistic to expect to become normal. It's sad, but I guess I have to play with the cards I was dealt. I'm going to keep fighting for my goal, but I may have to come to terms with the disappointing reality that some degree of fatness is my fate. I don't want to get so upset about the last 35 pounds that I stop being grateful for the first 150. If I can lose 2 pounds a month this year, I'll be 170 by the end of 2010. That's not so bad.
That's it. Ten months, and I'm bracing myself for life after the honeymoon. Or perhaps more accurately, I'm grieving its death.
On my nine-month surgiversary, I weighed 191.9. This morning, I weighed 190.0. So I've lost about 2 pounds in a whole month. Apparently my RNY "honeymoon," the period of rapid weight loss that usually lasts for about a year, is totally to' up and ovah.
I consider 2 pounds a plateau, or what we in the WLS community refer to as a "stall." However, labeling this simply as a "stall" obscures some of the craziness that's been going on with my weight over the past month.
My weight has been as low as 186.4, on January 23. Over the next 2 weeks or so, my weight crept back up to 194, then back down again. Over the past week, I've been weighing in the high 180s, usually between 187 and 188. For some reason, this morning I went back up into the 190s decade. ::Sigh.:: My weight has wildly fluctuated and seems to be completely out of my control.
I'm not sure what, if anything, I'm doing to cause this. About a week ago, I decided to give more calories a try. My daily calorie goal, at least for the next week or so, is 1,000. That's 100-200 more than I'd been eating before, and I've been reaching it by adding a morning protein shake. I've been exercising quite a lot, mixing cardio, yoga, Pilates, and the occasional traditional resistance workout. The only day I missed this week was Sunday, and that's because I was traveling. I need to buy the body fat analyzer, I guess. I'd be more comfortable with my body weight staying the same if I knew my body fat % was improving. In any event, the whole "calories in/calories out" line is not true for me whatsoever. I may try the 3-day liquid diet sometime soon.
If this stall can be tied to my nutrition intake, the only thing I can think of is sugarless gum, which I do not log. My thought with the gum is that since chewing gum burns calories, I don't worry about counting the minimal calories in it. The problem is that I burn fewer calories chewing the gum than I take in because I chew so much. I can go through 2-3 packs in a workday; it's almost become a replacement for compulsive eating, a transfer addiction. However, sugarless gum is generally a good weight loss habit because it keeps me from eating other things. (In fact, it's often featured on The Biggest Loser as a nifty weight loss tool.) I've gone some workdays without it, and too often I've eaten nuts or something otherwise off my daily plan when I could have just chewed the gum. I may try to give it up again, or at least cut back. It's an expensive habit, anyway.
Perhaps the stall is a result of being obese almost my whole life. Susan Maria Leach recently posted about this on her message board. She said that people who grew up normal-sized but became morbidly obese as adults "tend to drop down in weight like a rock to often below goal, and quite a few of these folks have to hang in and actually slow weight loss. . . . Some even have trouble keeping enough weight on." Conversely, people like me "are the ones who really have to fight for goal weight and have a greater tendency to top out heavy. IF people are going to gain most or all of the weight back, they are usually from this group. . . . [S]ince this group never had a set point for the body to use as a reference, it's tougher for the body to get there and stick it." Susan Maria emphasized that these are just trends she's recognized over the years; they aren't the Gospel of Gastric Bypass or anything.
Nonetheless, she might have pinpointed what's going on with me. I was chunky by the age of 5. I was wearing size 22/24 when I was 13. When I graduated high school, I was rejected health insurance because I was 330. My lowest adult weight was 210, and then I was squeezing into 18s. Now I'm 190 and wear size 14 on the bottom and usually a Medium top. My body is like, "Whaaaa? What's going on?!"
As I mentioned in a post earlier this week, it may simply be unrealistic to expect to become normal. It's sad, but I guess I have to play with the cards I was dealt. I'm going to keep fighting for my goal, but I may have to come to terms with the disappointing reality that some degree of fatness is my fate. I don't want to get so upset about the last 35 pounds that I stop being grateful for the first 150. If I can lose 2 pounds a month this year, I'll be 170 by the end of 2010. That's not so bad.
That's it. Ten months, and I'm bracing myself for life after the honeymoon. Or perhaps more accurately, I'm grieving its death.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Goals.
I went to my biweekly WLS support group meeting on Tuesday night. As usual, we started the meeting with introductions. Instead of taking the usual approach of introducing myself with how much I'd lost, I went with, "Hi, I'm Monica. On Saturday, it will be 10 months since my surgery. I have 35 pounds left to lose." (emphasis added to the important part).
I'm not sure why, but it felt right to lead with my goal instead of my starting point. Perhaps one reason is that starting with "I've lost 151 pounds from my highest weight and 117 since surgery" feels braggadocious. Not only that, everyone at the support group claps after you announce how much you've lost. I've netted a 2.5-pound loss this past month; I didn't want to hear any applause.
But I think the main reason is that I'm increasingly worried that I won't reach my goal weight. Maybe if I continually say my goal weight aloud - "152, 152, 152" - I will speak it into existence.
After my introduction, the nurse who leads the group says, "Well, you've done great. You look like you're already at goal." In response, I raised my eyebrows, looked down with embarrassment, and shook my head. I felt the pressure of my monstrous belly against my snug size 14 skirt. I thought, "If this is goal, I'm really disappointed."
I'm just not sure what my ultimate goal weight should be, and now that I'm on the downward slope of my weight loss phase, the lack of a clear goal is a problem. My surgeon doesn't assign a goal like some do, which makes sense philosophically, but may not make sense for clueless people like me. He asked me how much I wanted to lose; my response was, "Umm... I'm not sure." I haven't had a normal body weight since I was 5 or 6, if then. I have no idea what a healthy weight would be for me.
I initially turned to the BMI charts. My first goal was 156, because at 5'6.5", that would give me a "normal" BMI of 24.8. Later, I slightly lowered the goal to 152, half of my surgery starting weight. That would give me a BMI of 24.2, still on the high end of normal.
I'm not even sure if a normal BMI is realistic or desirable. Right now, my BMI is 29.8, right on the cusp between "obese" and "overweight." Some people decide their goals based on the percentage of excess weight lost, based on a medical perspective that RNYers can expect to lose up to 80% of their excess weight. So, if I base my excess weight on my highest weight of 338, "goal" would be 192.4 - in which case, I'm below goal (whatever.) If I base my excess weight on my surgery weight, my goal is 185.6, less than 2 pounds away.
Gee. This post is even more scattershot than usual. I'll just say this: I'm confused. The post reflects my general puzzlement about what my stopping point will be. I don't want to have a goal that I physiologically won't ever reach, but I still want my goal to be aggressive.
Mini-goals:
192.4: 80% excess weight from highest measured weight of 338
188: BMI of 29.9; no longer "obese"
185.6: 80% excess weight from official surgery start weight of 304
169: Half of highest measured weight of 338
156: BMI of 24.8; no longer "overweight"
152: Half of official surgery start weight of 304
I still need a mini-goal somewhere in the low 180s and/or 170s.
I'm not sure why, but it felt right to lead with my goal instead of my starting point. Perhaps one reason is that starting with "I've lost 151 pounds from my highest weight and 117 since surgery" feels braggadocious. Not only that, everyone at the support group claps after you announce how much you've lost. I've netted a 2.5-pound loss this past month; I didn't want to hear any applause.
But I think the main reason is that I'm increasingly worried that I won't reach my goal weight. Maybe if I continually say my goal weight aloud - "152, 152, 152" - I will speak it into existence.
After my introduction, the nurse who leads the group says, "Well, you've done great. You look like you're already at goal." In response, I raised my eyebrows, looked down with embarrassment, and shook my head. I felt the pressure of my monstrous belly against my snug size 14 skirt. I thought, "If this is goal, I'm really disappointed."
I'm just not sure what my ultimate goal weight should be, and now that I'm on the downward slope of my weight loss phase, the lack of a clear goal is a problem. My surgeon doesn't assign a goal like some do, which makes sense philosophically, but may not make sense for clueless people like me. He asked me how much I wanted to lose; my response was, "Umm... I'm not sure." I haven't had a normal body weight since I was 5 or 6, if then. I have no idea what a healthy weight would be for me.
I initially turned to the BMI charts. My first goal was 156, because at 5'6.5", that would give me a "normal" BMI of 24.8. Later, I slightly lowered the goal to 152, half of my surgery starting weight. That would give me a BMI of 24.2, still on the high end of normal.
I'm not even sure if a normal BMI is realistic or desirable. Right now, my BMI is 29.8, right on the cusp between "obese" and "overweight." Some people decide their goals based on the percentage of excess weight lost, based on a medical perspective that RNYers can expect to lose up to 80% of their excess weight. So, if I base my excess weight on my highest weight of 338, "goal" would be 192.4 - in which case, I'm below goal (whatever.) If I base my excess weight on my surgery weight, my goal is 185.6, less than 2 pounds away.
Gee. This post is even more scattershot than usual. I'll just say this: I'm confused. The post reflects my general puzzlement about what my stopping point will be. I don't want to have a goal that I physiologically won't ever reach, but I still want my goal to be aggressive.
Mini-goals:
192.4: 80% excess weight from highest measured weight of 338
188: BMI of 29.9; no longer "obese"
185.6: 80% excess weight from official surgery start weight of 304
169: Half of highest measured weight of 338
156: BMI of 24.8; no longer "overweight"
152: Half of official surgery start weight of 304
I still need a mini-goal somewhere in the low 180s and/or 170s.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Happy "Surgiversary" To Me: 9 Months In
This time nine months ago, I was on the operating table having RNY gastric bypass.
This morning, I weighed 191.9 pounds. This means that I've lost 146.1 pounds from my highest recorded weight of 338 in May 2002, and 112.1 pounds since my last pre-op appointment. I'm only about 4 pounds from reaching my next goal of 188, which will officially move me from an "obese" body mass index ("BMI") to an "overweight" BMI.
I need to lose 38 more pounds to reach my goal of 154, which would bring me to a "normal" BMI of 24.9. In reality, I want to lose more than that in case of a bounce back - but we'll see what my body chooses to do over the next several months.
The weight loss has definitely slowed, but that's normal. I'm fine with a slowdown as long as it keeps coming off. On December 1, 2009, I posted that I was "on the cusp of greatness" because I weighed 200.1 pounds. I broke through to "Onederland" (below 200 pounds) shortly thereafter, but then I fluctuated for a while and even weighed over 200 pounds again on a few mornings. Thus, over the past six weeks or so, I've lost fewer than ten pounds.
With RNY, the speediest weight loss tends to occur in the first six months. The rate of loss slows at that point, but it shouldn't completely stop until 12-18 months out. I hope this is not the case, but in reality, it could take me another nine months to lose the last 40 pounds.
I'm mentally prepared for that. My life has changed so positively as a result of this surgery. I'm more active than I used to be. I travel more. I was visiting friends in DC last weekend who live in a top floor walk-up, and I climbed those stairs, carrying luggage, with ease. More fundamentally, I don't feel abnormal anymore. I actually feel like I'm in my twenties instead of my fifties. Now that I no longer imagine myself encased in a fatsuit, I can be patient about this last little bit of excess weight. I am definitely going to remain diligent about my diet and exercise, but I recognize that the results aren't going to be as immediate as they were a few months ago.
Not just my weight, but also my attitude has changed over the past nine months. I've become an optimist. A lovely woman at last night's support group drove this home for me. She approached me after the meeting and told me how much she loved my positive attitude. I thought, "Whaaa . . . you're talking to me???" She said that I radiated confidence and positive energy.
My closer friends (and some that aren't so close, in truth) would think "positive" a strange adjective for me. No, I'm not the most negative person and I'm not the least confident, but I've never been Mary Sunshine. In eighth grade, I actually wrote an essay about the virtues of pessimism. The last couple years of college and every single moment of law school were an endless stream of second-guessing and self-doubt. I can always find the good in others, but I'm a terrible self-critic. (This is an INFP trait, by the way.)
But the nice woman at support group was right - my perspective on life is fairly positive right now. My life isn't close to being perfect. I live far away from all of my closest friends, and I realized fairly recently that I hate the legal profession altogether and need to drum up a new career from scratch. I don't have a job lined up for next year, and I have no idea what I want to do. But even with such a high level of uncertainty, I'm confident that everything's going to work out. I don't know how, and I don't know when, but I have faith. I don't think I could have said that nine months ago.
Of course, weight loss isn't solely responsible for this change in outlook. Over the past few months, I escaped the New Haven insanity vortex (Yale Law), passed the bar, started a new job with a very pleasant work environment, and moved into a lovely apartment that I have all to myself. I live in a warmer climate, which is important to me. I get to see my grandmother, mom, sister, and nephew on a regular basis because I'm only a couple of hours away from them. These factors are all conducive to happiness. But I still believe that the biggest contributor to my newfound optimism is the weight loss. I don't feel trapped by excess fat or by any other circumstance or condition. Minor setbacks aren't affecting my outlook the way they used to.
I sound like Mary Poppins right now, but I'm not delusional. I know I'll be battling the disease of obesity for the rest of my life. But now I'm fighting with an AK-47 instead of a slingshot.
I'm nine months in, and the view from here is grand. I'm thankful for all of the people who made this possible, including my mom, administrators and professors at the Yale Law School and the Yale Health Plan (long story), and Dr. Robert Bell of Yale-New Haven Hospital's bariatric program.
This morning, I weighed 191.9 pounds. This means that I've lost 146.1 pounds from my highest recorded weight of 338 in May 2002, and 112.1 pounds since my last pre-op appointment. I'm only about 4 pounds from reaching my next goal of 188, which will officially move me from an "obese" body mass index ("BMI") to an "overweight" BMI.
I need to lose 38 more pounds to reach my goal of 154, which would bring me to a "normal" BMI of 24.9. In reality, I want to lose more than that in case of a bounce back - but we'll see what my body chooses to do over the next several months.
The weight loss has definitely slowed, but that's normal. I'm fine with a slowdown as long as it keeps coming off. On December 1, 2009, I posted that I was "on the cusp of greatness" because I weighed 200.1 pounds. I broke through to "Onederland" (below 200 pounds) shortly thereafter, but then I fluctuated for a while and even weighed over 200 pounds again on a few mornings. Thus, over the past six weeks or so, I've lost fewer than ten pounds.
With RNY, the speediest weight loss tends to occur in the first six months. The rate of loss slows at that point, but it shouldn't completely stop until 12-18 months out. I hope this is not the case, but in reality, it could take me another nine months to lose the last 40 pounds.
I'm mentally prepared for that. My life has changed so positively as a result of this surgery. I'm more active than I used to be. I travel more. I was visiting friends in DC last weekend who live in a top floor walk-up, and I climbed those stairs, carrying luggage, with ease. More fundamentally, I don't feel abnormal anymore. I actually feel like I'm in my twenties instead of my fifties. Now that I no longer imagine myself encased in a fatsuit, I can be patient about this last little bit of excess weight. I am definitely going to remain diligent about my diet and exercise, but I recognize that the results aren't going to be as immediate as they were a few months ago.
Not just my weight, but also my attitude has changed over the past nine months. I've become an optimist. A lovely woman at last night's support group drove this home for me. She approached me after the meeting and told me how much she loved my positive attitude. I thought, "Whaaa . . . you're talking to me???" She said that I radiated confidence and positive energy.
My closer friends (and some that aren't so close, in truth) would think "positive" a strange adjective for me. No, I'm not the most negative person and I'm not the least confident, but I've never been Mary Sunshine. In eighth grade, I actually wrote an essay about the virtues of pessimism. The last couple years of college and every single moment of law school were an endless stream of second-guessing and self-doubt. I can always find the good in others, but I'm a terrible self-critic. (This is an INFP trait, by the way.)
But the nice woman at support group was right - my perspective on life is fairly positive right now. My life isn't close to being perfect. I live far away from all of my closest friends, and I realized fairly recently that I hate the legal profession altogether and need to drum up a new career from scratch. I don't have a job lined up for next year, and I have no idea what I want to do. But even with such a high level of uncertainty, I'm confident that everything's going to work out. I don't know how, and I don't know when, but I have faith. I don't think I could have said that nine months ago.
Of course, weight loss isn't solely responsible for this change in outlook. Over the past few months, I escaped the New Haven insanity vortex (Yale Law), passed the bar, started a new job with a very pleasant work environment, and moved into a lovely apartment that I have all to myself. I live in a warmer climate, which is important to me. I get to see my grandmother, mom, sister, and nephew on a regular basis because I'm only a couple of hours away from them. These factors are all conducive to happiness. But I still believe that the biggest contributor to my newfound optimism is the weight loss. I don't feel trapped by excess fat or by any other circumstance or condition. Minor setbacks aren't affecting my outlook the way they used to.
I sound like Mary Poppins right now, but I'm not delusional. I know I'll be battling the disease of obesity for the rest of my life. But now I'm fighting with an AK-47 instead of a slingshot.
I'm nine months in, and the view from here is grand. I'm thankful for all of the people who made this possible, including my mom, administrators and professors at the Yale Law School and the Yale Health Plan (long story), and Dr. Robert Bell of Yale-New Haven Hospital's bariatric program.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Weight Update, or "Welcome to One-derland!"
Just a quick update on my weight! For about a week now, I've been weighing in below 200 (!) This is strange, very strange. The lowest I've gotten is 196.5. If I think optimistically and consider 196.5 my current weight, that's a loss of 141.5 pounds from my highest measured weight of 338 in 2002 and 107.5 from my pre-surgery weight of 304. Not bad for just under eight months, though I know some lose faster.
Wow. This surgery is a whirlwind. I think the last time I weighed below 200 pounds, I was in 5th or 6th grade! I've been celebrating by shopping without buying much. Fortunately, I don't feel ashamed trying lots of stuff on and putting it all back. However, I did buy a very cute shirt at Ann Taylor LOFT (!) this weekend that I'm going to wear in my upcoming "One-derland" professional photos. It's a size Medium. Again - insanity!!!!! (I'm still in plus sizes on the bottom. Don't let my disproportionately small top half fool you.)
I've decided that my final weight goal will be 154, the weight at which I would have a normal body mass index ("BMI"). I may stall out higher than that; I may shoot for lower than that once I get there, but that's my goal for now.
My next mini-goal on the scale is 188, the weight at which my BMI will move from "obese" to "overweight." May not seem like anything exciting to you, but we formerly morbidly obese people relish these minor thrills. :-)
Wow. This surgery is a whirlwind. I think the last time I weighed below 200 pounds, I was in 5th or 6th grade! I've been celebrating by shopping without buying much. Fortunately, I don't feel ashamed trying lots of stuff on and putting it all back. However, I did buy a very cute shirt at Ann Taylor LOFT (!) this weekend that I'm going to wear in my upcoming "One-derland" professional photos. It's a size Medium. Again - insanity!!!!! (I'm still in plus sizes on the bottom. Don't let my disproportionately small top half fool you.)
I've decided that my final weight goal will be 154, the weight at which I would have a normal body mass index ("BMI"). I may stall out higher than that; I may shoot for lower than that once I get there, but that's my goal for now.
My next mini-goal on the scale is 188, the weight at which my BMI will move from "obese" to "overweight." May not seem like anything exciting to you, but we formerly morbidly obese people relish these minor thrills. :-)
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