Stairsteps
Weight: 226
So much for the brick wall eh? Wow, it's been longer than I thought since I wrote last. Meanwhile I've heard this process described more like a staircase than a slide and reminding myself of that is what gets me through the weight loss slow downs. So far it has absolutely been true. I may be exactly the same weight, or oscillating up or down around the same weight, for up to 3 weeks or so. Then boom. I'm on the trip down to the step below me...where I wait again. No matter how long I hang out on the stair step I seem to average about 10 pounds of weight loss/month. That being said I have 3 months left to hit my next goal of breaking into One-derland...and 27 pounds to go so right on track. The trick is not to get too discouraged while on the step and not the slide. It's all just the way the process works. Progress. Adjust. Stabilize. Progress.
The other part of this journey I really want to share with people is dispelling the myth that the weight loss just happens. Initially maybe because you literally starve while you heal. But that's only in the beginning. The surgery is a tool, not a magic pill. Truthfully speaking I am 5 months out of surgery and I can eat pretty much anything I want...and any volume I want if I take my time to do it. It is not my choice to do either of those things but I could. Sugar? Not a problem unfortunately. I do not get dumping syndrome and if I eat slow enough and chew well enough there's always a bit of room to keep pouring more down.
What the surgery does is help me reflect upon my choices. If I eat a hamburger bun there will not be room to eat the hamburger before it gets cold. So what do I really want, the hamburger or the bun? Ahh. Half a hamburger, with ketchup, wrapped in a lettuce leaf and a box for the other half which I will eat later. The bun is not worth giving up everything I really want.
I honestly don't know how much the rerouting actually did because as far as I can see the only real difference is volume control...though dry meats and any kind of eggs are still a bit of a struggle for me. What amazes me is how much we Americans have been duped into believing we actually need to eat to survive. I am not deprived by any stretch of the imagination despite the fact that I only consume about 1/8th of what I was led to believe I needed. A single typical restaurant portion of food is at least 4 meals for me, sometimes as many as 8. I am not starving. I am not weak and malnourished. I feel completely satisfied and have more energy than I've had in literally decades. Truth be told I honestly cannot ever remember having this much energy or feeling quite so healthy and alive except for that brief period of time in D.C. when Bonnie and I were dancing at DC Danceworks.
Which brings me to the next part of the, "it doesn't just magically fall off and leave you feeling like Wonder Woman" story. The surgery doesn't do the work for you, it just helps you do the work yourself. And that's got to be your mindset if you want to be successful.
Part of why I spend so much time on the stair instead of the slide is because exercise is a huge part of my life. I spend 1-2 hours most days of the week at the gym with sweat pouring down me. Zumba, CIZE dance, Step Aerobics, Turbo Kick class, CardioFusion, and resistance training. Whatever I can squeeze in time for. I even put in an hour on the treadmill after working 12-hour night shifts (every other shift).
So while I'm losing fat I'm gaining muscle, gaining muscle tone, becoming stronger and increasing my metabolism. The scale may not look quite as impressive as someone who doesn't exercise as much but I would bet money that I both look and feel a ton better than they do. I was on 6 different prescription medications. Today I am on zero. My cholesterol was 220 while on statins and Flax Seed oil. Today it is less than 150 on nothing. I can run. I can jump. My maximum heart rate is now 174 instead of 160 and my average resting heart rate is 46. It isn't just about the scale. It's about health and quality of life.
I am also gaining massive quantities of serotonin, the internally produced "happy chemical" to the point that for the first time in 20 years I'm off anti-depressants. I now understand "runner's high" and I totally remember it from DC. Dancers' high. I could dance for 4 hours solid or more, huffing and puffing, sweat pouring off of me and come back the next day excited to start again. This is the part people don't really talk about. They talk about what the scale says, and what people say, and what size clothes they're in. But really what it's all about is how you feel. And me??? I feel 30 years younger!
So much for the brick wall eh? Wow, it's been longer than I thought since I wrote last. Meanwhile I've heard this process described more like a staircase than a slide and reminding myself of that is what gets me through the weight loss slow downs. So far it has absolutely been true. I may be exactly the same weight, or oscillating up or down around the same weight, for up to 3 weeks or so. Then boom. I'm on the trip down to the step below me...where I wait again. No matter how long I hang out on the stair step I seem to average about 10 pounds of weight loss/month. That being said I have 3 months left to hit my next goal of breaking into One-derland...and 27 pounds to go so right on track. The trick is not to get too discouraged while on the step and not the slide. It's all just the way the process works. Progress. Adjust. Stabilize. Progress.
The other part of this journey I really want to share with people is dispelling the myth that the weight loss just happens. Initially maybe because you literally starve while you heal. But that's only in the beginning. The surgery is a tool, not a magic pill. Truthfully speaking I am 5 months out of surgery and I can eat pretty much anything I want...and any volume I want if I take my time to do it. It is not my choice to do either of those things but I could. Sugar? Not a problem unfortunately. I do not get dumping syndrome and if I eat slow enough and chew well enough there's always a bit of room to keep pouring more down.
What the surgery does is help me reflect upon my choices. If I eat a hamburger bun there will not be room to eat the hamburger before it gets cold. So what do I really want, the hamburger or the bun? Ahh. Half a hamburger, with ketchup, wrapped in a lettuce leaf and a box for the other half which I will eat later. The bun is not worth giving up everything I really want.
I honestly don't know how much the rerouting actually did because as far as I can see the only real difference is volume control...though dry meats and any kind of eggs are still a bit of a struggle for me. What amazes me is how much we Americans have been duped into believing we actually need to eat to survive. I am not deprived by any stretch of the imagination despite the fact that I only consume about 1/8th of what I was led to believe I needed. A single typical restaurant portion of food is at least 4 meals for me, sometimes as many as 8. I am not starving. I am not weak and malnourished. I feel completely satisfied and have more energy than I've had in literally decades. Truth be told I honestly cannot ever remember having this much energy or feeling quite so healthy and alive except for that brief period of time in D.C. when Bonnie and I were dancing at DC Danceworks.
Which brings me to the next part of the, "it doesn't just magically fall off and leave you feeling like Wonder Woman" story. The surgery doesn't do the work for you, it just helps you do the work yourself. And that's got to be your mindset if you want to be successful.
Part of why I spend so much time on the stair instead of the slide is because exercise is a huge part of my life. I spend 1-2 hours most days of the week at the gym with sweat pouring down me. Zumba, CIZE dance, Step Aerobics, Turbo Kick class, CardioFusion, and resistance training. Whatever I can squeeze in time for. I even put in an hour on the treadmill after working 12-hour night shifts (every other shift).
So while I'm losing fat I'm gaining muscle, gaining muscle tone, becoming stronger and increasing my metabolism. The scale may not look quite as impressive as someone who doesn't exercise as much but I would bet money that I both look and feel a ton better than they do. I was on 6 different prescription medications. Today I am on zero. My cholesterol was 220 while on statins and Flax Seed oil. Today it is less than 150 on nothing. I can run. I can jump. My maximum heart rate is now 174 instead of 160 and my average resting heart rate is 46. It isn't just about the scale. It's about health and quality of life.
I am also gaining massive quantities of serotonin, the internally produced "happy chemical" to the point that for the first time in 20 years I'm off anti-depressants. I now understand "runner's high" and I totally remember it from DC. Dancers' high. I could dance for 4 hours solid or more, huffing and puffing, sweat pouring off of me and come back the next day excited to start again. This is the part people don't really talk about. They talk about what the scale says, and what people say, and what size clothes they're in. But really what it's all about is how you feel. And me??? I feel 30 years younger!
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