8-9 Week Update!

Hey guys!  Sorry to have disappeared again!  As I've been progressing with things I'm finding that I'm super busy all the time, which doesn't leave me a ton of room to post my updates.  Most people are following me on my Instagram account (@losingmyeviltwin) to see my progress.

Anyways, today is my 9 week surgery anniversary!  If you are just checking in, I had Laparascopic Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy on September 25, 2018.  I started a pre-operative liquid diet on 8/28/2018 and lost 33.3 pounds before surgery, and have officially lost 48 pounds since surgery for a total of 81.3 pounds.  The night before I started my liquid diet I was 415.5 pounds and as of this morning was 333.2 which feels amazing. 

Since I last posted the biggest thing is that I am eating real food again.  I'm eating meats, cooked veggies (I've not tried any raw veggies yet as I heard those can be hard to deal with), oatmeal, cheese (lots and lots of cheese), chili, chicken and tuna salads, etc.  I've even gotten brave enough to order some deep fried fish and scrape all the breading off when I was on a trip over the weekend a couple weeks ago.  I learned to adapt.  It's not easy...by far.  But it can be done if you take the time to make smart decisions.  I don't eat out a lot, and was super prepared when I traveled, but still it's nice to live a normal life and eat in a restaurant with a friend or your family without being a huge inconvenience.  Truth be told: I've become a cheap date.  I need like 5 bites anymore and I'm pretty much full, especially if it's meat. Win!

I'm feeling better all the time in terms of internally.  My surgical wounds are all healed up completely, and I don't feel any muscle or nerve pain at all anymore.  I still get some bouts of nausea here and there, and sour stomach here and there, but it's getting much better as my body is learning to adapt to this huge change.

I had my 1 month follow up on Halloween and my surgeon was very happy with my progress.  When I asked him how much more weight he wanted to see me lose by my next appointment which will be at the beginning of February, he gave me a number of 30 pounds.  Looking at how in my first month after surgery I lost 31.2 pounds, I figured this would be cake.  But it's definitely slowing down.  So far this month I've "only" lost 13.4 pounds with a few days to go.  Even still, losing 15 pounds in a month is nothing to shake a stick at.  And this is not a race.  And as long as I continue to follow the program, I will continue to lose.  I'm really hoping to lose a tiny bit more than what he expects, but I'll be happy if I can at least meet his goal.

One thing I am still struggling with is exercise.  I want to start a gym membership but learning to make time to go is still hard for me.  I'm also still dealing with some foot pain (most likely arthritis due to my obesity according to the bone doctor I saw a few months ago).  Hoping that as I lose weight it gets a little better.  Another goal I have is to find exercise that I truly enjoy.  Next summer I will be kayaking (you can bet on it) which will be awesome exercise.  But getting through the winter is the key.  I need to keep my muscles toned.  I'm pretty strong overall, but definitely want to build more muscle to help burn more fat.  I also do NOT want to just go walk on the treadmill or hop on a trainer for an hour as a workout.  That is boring.  That feels like punishment.  That feels like torture, and all those feelings are self-defeating and don't help anyone!  So I'm looking to maybe try something more fun like Zumba classes, water aerobics, or I don't know what.  I'm always open to ideas! 

More big news is that with my losing weight, I'm also becoming a little more outgoing again and braver.  So I've booked myself a flight to So Cal to visit my best friend, her mom, and some of my family.  I'm super duper excited, and leave next week, however I'm also really scared to fly fat.  I haven't flown in almost 4.5 years (was it really that long ago we did Disney? Holy crap!), and of course I'm getting that anxiety again.  Unfortunately I don't have any records of my weights at that time anymore (the closes I could find is 351 and that was December 2014).  So I'm probably less in weight than I was at that time, but I also feel like my body comp is a bit different than then too.  My belly, of course, is always the last thing to get smaller, but I had posted in a follow-up blog to our trip that I did use a seatbelt extended but only barely needed it.  I fully plan on asking for one as I get on the plane, and will just keep my fingers crossed that I can give it back and not need it. I'm really also secretly hoping that they upgrade me in some way on the plane (close to a 0% change I know, but a girl can dream right?) because I can see that someone decided to buy the seat next to me and leave the seats on the other side of the row empty (annoying, like who does that?) and it would have been awesome to not have to sit next to anyone.  The plus size is this is a 2x2 plane which means it's only 2 seats on one side of the isle and 2 seats on the other. So no middle seat awkwardness.  I chose the window seat each way so I can turn to the window and lean away from anyone sitting next to me.  I don't want to encroach on anyone's space, and I don't want to have to lean into the isle and risk being hit by the drink cart.  Again, it's only a 2 hour flight, but I will already be dealing with enough anxiety as it is, that I don't need it to be worse by having to constantly be contorting myself around people or carts in the isle.  I've also considering just paying for the upgrade to mid-class but that's an extra $50 each way.  I'm sort of cheap.

Anyways, that's about all that is going on right now. Thanks for checking it out! I'll try to get another update out in a few weeks or so! Later tater!