On the 19th it will be three years since I underwent lap-band surgery, a decision I'll never regret. Since my last post, I've hit goal and even managed to go under by a pound or two, have settled comfortably into a size 6, and have even had to purchase some extra-small yoga pants versus my usual size small.
Y'know, I can't help but be amazed when I reread what I just wrote. I never thought I'd be a "small" anything. And size 6? Please. That would only happen if the fashion world should ever decide that a size 6 should become the new size 12 (a size I was prepared to settle quite comfortably into).
Through it all, Ray has been my biggest cheerleader. He's my support, my strength, my sounding board when I've griped and grumbled about how slow the process of losing 130 pounds was. And he continues to be all those things, although now the kvetching is more about things like exercise and going to the gym. I'm sorry, but I have a deep mistrust of anybody who claims exercise is fun. Fun is going to the beach. Fun is playing with the grandbabies. Fun is, well, heck. Going to the dentist is fun when compared with going to the gym *bleah* We do it though, like the good soldiers we are (at least most of the time).
In the name of "fun", I treat myself to a Christmas goody and enjoy that decorated cookie or a couple of green- and gold-wrapped Kisses because for me weight loss hasn't been about deprivation, it's been about celebration, and sometimes that involves an edible treat. It's the non-edible ones, like the size 6's, that help keep me on track. I've discovered that I really, really, really like buying clothes now!
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
What a difference a day makes
Okay, actually it's been more than a day since I last updated my blog. More like a day multiplied by...a lot.
Some amazing things have happened since my last posting and some not-so-great things but, as part of my new outlook on life I've been working on learning from the not-so-great and then letting them go, choosing to focus my energies instead on the amazing.
One of the most amazing things has been the gift of seeing our #10 grandchild, our Butterbean, who has cerebral palsy, ride a tricycle for the first time, being there to share in the pride and joy she felt over her accomplishment. She's always been one of the biggest reasons for my decision to undergo weight loss surgery and the main one to keep me on track when the going got rough. I want to be able to enjoy all my grandchildren (and maybe even great-grandchildren) and be physically able to do things with them for years to come, but she's the one who will always need the most help physically, and I want to be able to help with that for the rest of my life. Besides, after spending the past three weeks visiting her in California my upper arms have gotten a lot firmer. I owe her, big-time.
Now here I am, 2 1/2 years post-op, hovering between 131-133, right on the cusp of my 130 lb. weight goal. Needing new clothes for the warmer months ahead, I began purchasing spring and summer clothes in March. Certain that I would never move to a size lower than a 10, I tossed receipts, washed and ironed all my new duds, and hung them in my closet to wait for sunshine and warmer temperatures. Well, we got sunshine and warmer temperatures...and a local consignment shop got a lot of new clothes to sell for me. Skipping size eights, I needed to go re-buy everything I need for the summer in a size six. My shirts went from medium to small. Can you believe it? I can't. Heck, I still look at things in a size 16 or so and think, "I bet I can fit into that."
Unfortunately, there's been a downside. As the rest of my body gets smaller, so do "the girls", until I'm now in a 34B. My very well endowed numero uno daughter-in-law laughed at me when we went bra shopping together because I went straight for the padded numbers. Heck, I have to admit that I laughed at me too; afterall, I haven't been a 34B (or needed a padded cup) since I was ten.
Weight loss has also continued to help my knees. Although I still use a pain medication daily the breaththrough pain has almost completely disappeared. The only time osteoarthritis rears its ugly head is when I've been sedentary for a few hours.
After purchasing (and actually using!) several exercise DVDs to work out to at home, I finally felt comfortable enough to join a gym and even attended yoga classes (until they changed the danged schedule and took away the beginner class in the time slot that had worked out so well for us). After two weeks of watching me go off alone to the Land of Sweat and Tears Ray decided to join also, and we even splurged on a personal trainer. This has all been fairly recent, and we've missed a month due to out-of-state travel, but we both noticed a difference fairly quickly. On the flip side, after a month of not using a gym we saw a not-so-great difference just as quickly. Now we're anxious to get home and settled back into our six-nights-a-week gym routine.
I've had what will probably be my last lap-band fill, the last because it's now so tight that a barium x-ray shortly after that appointment showed the barium staying in the upper part of my banded stomach for a looooooong time before slowly starting to trickle down enough to allow them to take the x-ray.
On the same day as the x-ray I was scheduled for my annual mammogram. I had to laugh when the x-ray tech asked if I'd lost weight since my last one, in February of 2009. It seems the "area to x-ray is significantly smaller than it was then." Really? I mean, I didn't have a clue *snort* I did, however, learn a valuable lesson: the smaller the boobies, the more they have to pinch and squeeze and squish to make them stay between the plates for the x-rays. OUCH.
It's a small price to pay (no pun intended), giving up some of "the girls" for my new size and weight. And I've still never regretted my decision to have lap-band, not once.
Some amazing things have happened since my last posting and some not-so-great things but, as part of my new outlook on life I've been working on learning from the not-so-great and then letting them go, choosing to focus my energies instead on the amazing.
One of the most amazing things has been the gift of seeing our #10 grandchild, our Butterbean, who has cerebral palsy, ride a tricycle for the first time, being there to share in the pride and joy she felt over her accomplishment. She's always been one of the biggest reasons for my decision to undergo weight loss surgery and the main one to keep me on track when the going got rough. I want to be able to enjoy all my grandchildren (and maybe even great-grandchildren) and be physically able to do things with them for years to come, but she's the one who will always need the most help physically, and I want to be able to help with that for the rest of my life. Besides, after spending the past three weeks visiting her in California my upper arms have gotten a lot firmer. I owe her, big-time.
Now here I am, 2 1/2 years post-op, hovering between 131-133, right on the cusp of my 130 lb. weight goal. Needing new clothes for the warmer months ahead, I began purchasing spring and summer clothes in March. Certain that I would never move to a size lower than a 10, I tossed receipts, washed and ironed all my new duds, and hung them in my closet to wait for sunshine and warmer temperatures. Well, we got sunshine and warmer temperatures...and a local consignment shop got a lot of new clothes to sell for me. Skipping size eights, I needed to go re-buy everything I need for the summer in a size six. My shirts went from medium to small. Can you believe it? I can't. Heck, I still look at things in a size 16 or so and think, "I bet I can fit into that."
Unfortunately, there's been a downside. As the rest of my body gets smaller, so do "the girls", until I'm now in a 34B. My very well endowed numero uno daughter-in-law laughed at me when we went bra shopping together because I went straight for the padded numbers. Heck, I have to admit that I laughed at me too; afterall, I haven't been a 34B (or needed a padded cup) since I was ten.
Weight loss has also continued to help my knees. Although I still use a pain medication daily the breaththrough pain has almost completely disappeared. The only time osteoarthritis rears its ugly head is when I've been sedentary for a few hours.
After purchasing (and actually using!) several exercise DVDs to work out to at home, I finally felt comfortable enough to join a gym and even attended yoga classes (until they changed the danged schedule and took away the beginner class in the time slot that had worked out so well for us). After two weeks of watching me go off alone to the Land of Sweat and Tears Ray decided to join also, and we even splurged on a personal trainer. This has all been fairly recent, and we've missed a month due to out-of-state travel, but we both noticed a difference fairly quickly. On the flip side, after a month of not using a gym we saw a not-so-great difference just as quickly. Now we're anxious to get home and settled back into our six-nights-a-week gym routine.
I've had what will probably be my last lap-band fill, the last because it's now so tight that a barium x-ray shortly after that appointment showed the barium staying in the upper part of my banded stomach for a looooooong time before slowly starting to trickle down enough to allow them to take the x-ray.
On the same day as the x-ray I was scheduled for my annual mammogram. I had to laugh when the x-ray tech asked if I'd lost weight since my last one, in February of 2009. It seems the "area to x-ray is significantly smaller than it was then." Really? I mean, I didn't have a clue *snort* I did, however, learn a valuable lesson: the smaller the boobies, the more they have to pinch and squeeze and squish to make them stay between the plates for the x-rays. OUCH.
It's a small price to pay (no pun intended), giving up some of "the girls" for my new size and weight. And I've still never regretted my decision to have lap-band, not once.
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