joanpearl
Pre-surgery weight 430
weight at surgery (11/04) 403
weight on 1/05 355
5/8/05
I have my 6 month follow-up next week. I am nervous as I am not sure I have done as well as the surgeon will have anticipated. I know he set a goal for me of 100 pounds. I think I am short of that by at l.east 20 pounds. My scales read so different from his, and mine seem to be bouncing back between 315 and 311. I am happy with the changes I have seen., and If I stopped losing today, I would be happy because of those changes in my life. HOWEVER, I would be happier losing all my weight. I am taking a big trip in October. MY goal is to lose at least 50 more pounds in that amount of time. I cannot even imagine weilging less than 300. I found some old records of my Weight Watchers days, dating bak to 1998. I was way over 300 pounds then. Wow, what an eye opener to see the "yo-yo" effect I had on WW. Surgery has been my first true weight loss success. I am going to try and use this to keep a better doccumentation of my progress.
5/10/05
I had my 6-month followup today. All of my blood work came back better than good. Dr was please withmy loss todate, even though I was only at 86 pounds according to his scales (113 total loss), 14 pounds short of his goal for me. My next challenge is that I have an incisional hernia that needs to be repaired, so I will have surgery on that June 27th. It seems he is moving to Florida in August and I do want him to do the repair. This was the soonest that we could get me in. I am not nearly as worried about this surgery as I know I am in much better health this time. His next challenge for me is to lose 50 more pounds by my 1 year anniversary. 10 pounds a month. Heck I can do that!
7/4/05
I had my hernia repair on 6/27 as planned. The hernia was much larger than he had anticipated, and the suregery was more intense that I thought. I am still in quite a bit of pain. This is just a bump in the road of my journey, and I should be back on my feet in no time.
Weight on 6/27/05 301
7/17/05
Got on the scales today and I am finally under 300!!! 299 to be exact!! Woo hoo for me!
11/2/05
Tomorrow is the one year anniversary of truly the rest of my life. Looking back over the past year, I am truly amazed at the transformation of not only my physical appearance, and new found health, but also at my overall mental health. When I look in the mirror, the face looking back at me is smiling. I am no longer satisfied with staying home, I want to go out and do things that either I have not done in a long time, or at least have not been able to enjoy for a long time. I find myself with a new interest in healthy eating, constantly looking for new foods that are healthy, not just good to the taste. I am still working on that interest in exercise. Yes, I have joined a water aerobics class, and yes, I do enjoy that more than most exercise. But I don’t have the passion like some think I should have.
More than all of this are the little things, many of which no one notices other than me. Being able to walk into a restaurant and not worry if they have tables since booths were so uncomfortable. Walking down the street, and not having to pause to step up onto a curb because it was so hard and painful. Not having to drive around the parking lot, waiting for a close spot, now anywhere is fine. Being able to walk even the shortest of distances without breathing heavy or stopping to rest. Being able to tie my shoes on top and not on the side. Taking a trip, and enjoying everything I want to do, not just watching from the car, unable to get out and really participate. Meeting new people, smiling at everyone that passes by. Every day I find something that makes me stop and think to myself, WOW I can do that.
I want to take this moment to thank my friends who encouraged me to pursue this journey. The same friends and family that went with me to appointments and stood by during the surgery. The same friends and family that have given constant encouragement along the way. Don’t stop now; I have a long ways to go yet!
430 pre-op
403 surgery 11/3/04
279 11/2/05
