60 Pounds Less of Me!

Today I celebrate another milestone.  I'm officially down 60 pounds at nearly 5 months out. 

Pictures are cool...

December 2011 - "Before"

April 19, 2012 "In Progress"

But I'm a data girl... so here we go:

19 weeks

60 pounds lost

3.15 pounds a week

13.33 pounds a month

Looked at that way, it seems pretty normal, right?  What's the recommended weight loss done the "traditional" diet and exercise way... 1-2 pounds a week?  

So my tool has definitely accelerated that.  But my doctor keeps telling me that losing weight slowly is a good thing.  You have a better chance of keeping it off long-term when you lose slowly and let your body catch up with you.

December 2011 "Before"

April 19, 2012 "In Progress"

But the real difference is seen in the inches. 

30 - total inches lost

5.5 - inches from waist

7.0 - inches from hips 

3.8 - inches from upper arms (yes, I have bat wings... deal with it!)

6.3 - inches from thighs

Even when I don't lose much weight, I still see the inches going down, which is exciting.

Some of my milestones in just 5 short months...

• immediately - taken off all diabetes drugs and told not to check my sugars daily
• 15-20 pounds - wearing a ring that hadn't fit for 3+ years
• 38 pounds - traveling and not asking for a seat belt extender on an airplane
• 38 pounds - not being able to lift a suitcase at the airport and realizing it weighs exactly the same amount as I have lost to date!
• 45 pounds - seeing extended family for the first time and "suffering" through compliments!
• 50 pounds - walking 3.1 miles - my first 5K. I came in dead last but I FINISHED
• 60 pounds - having more energy, feeling more confident, being the me I feel like on the inside all the time, not only when I don't peak in the mirror!

Someone asked me on Facebook today how many sizes I'm down - I started this process as a 26/28 to 30/32 (when you can no longer shop at the Avenue, you must admit you have a problem!) and last week, I bought a bunch of new clothes from The Wardrobe Boutique (yes, I'm a shopper, too!) - an XL New York and Company trench coat in a very springy bright pink.  For those other fat and formerly fat girls out there... you will know that NY & Co doesn't have a "plus size" line!  So that's a normal-girl XL!   But mostly I'm a 18/20 (although Paige told me today my clothes are still too big!).

I'm starting to feel like the poster child for Gastric Bypass.  I think by the end of the summer, I will have accumulated enough referral points to get the toaster!  (Yes, that's a joke!)  But seriously, I know 3 women who are seriously considering the surgery after hearing my experience.  

And I like that. I like that my experience can give other women hope.  Because I know what it's like to feel so defeated.  To leave the doctor's office after hearing that you are "morbidly obese" and wondering whether life is worth living (it is) and feeling like a complete failure (which you know intellectually you aren't!).

This week, a girl on the Thinner Times forum reached out to me.  She is just 16, weighs over 330 pounds and is waiting for approval for the surgery... she asked some advice, so I tried to offer some.  It's hard for me to imagine being in this position at such a young age.  I have many conflicting feelings about that.  But mostly, I'm glad that me and others are here to offer someone like her hope.  Someone else like us.  

Another woman reached out to me via My Fitness Pal (weight/food tracker site with fabulous iPhone app!).  She's in Atlanta and didn't have a local support network so we share messages about every week and I'm glad that can use my experiences to help someone else.

So I'll end this post with some of the advice I gave to my new friends... 

This is one of the hardest things I have ever done.  It really is a tool, not a cure.  That's one of the most important things I have learned.  You still have to curb your eating, but the tool helps that.  If you learn to LISTEN to your body, stop when you are getting full (because to be full means to be uncomfortable and in pain), then you can use the tool effectively.

But you can also eat around your tool - especially as you get farther out from surgery.  Already I can see that I can eat more than I could immediately after surgery.  I can eat 2 cups of soup in a sitting but I probably shouldn't.  I can tolerate most sugars so I can still eat ice cream, chocolate, cookies.  Again, I can but I know that I shouldn't.  Long term, those will be the things that will make the tool less effective.

For me, adding exercise is the most difficult thing.  I work alot so finding time to walk, exercise, go to the gym (I'm just not a gym person) has been tough.  But I walked my first 5K last month and now am walking at least 1 5K a week (which is over 3 miles).

Part of the reason I'm keeping this blog is so I can come back and remember what I was thinking and feeling.  It certainly helps me.  I think it helps my friends and family understand what I'm going through.  And maybe it will help some people I don't even know!