What I Know for Sure
To borrow a catch phrase from Oprah, a woman I admire on many levels, this post is about my learnings over the last nine months. No one undertakes this sort of journey without learning something along the way. Some of the learnings are sought. Some hit you between the eyes when you least expect it. Some just down right suck. But all are part of the amazing journey that has been my weight loss surgery story to date.
What I know for sure:
1. WLS is not the easy way out. It does not allow you to abdicate responsibility for your health. Weight loss does not happen without serious effort on your part. Health does not happen at all if you do not pay attention to the "rules" of your surgery. WLS is hard work. There is not getting off the wagon and putting your head in the sand. The wagon is always with you. As one who likes the feeling of the occasional head in sand session as a method to avoid life's' sucky moments this was a tough one for me. I actually have to deal with stuff rather than eat my way through said stuff. Who would have thunk it?
2. I am stronger than I knew. I have survived many sucky moments in the past nine months without resorting to food. And I am ok. Hmmm...
3. WLS operates on your digestive system not your head. Your head is much more the enemy than any other part of your body. WLS allows you the time to deal with your head without the "all or nothing" approach that many of us super obese people employ.
4. The head stuff is hard and ongoing. I am very prone to head stuff. Comes with the territory of being a 'thinker'.
5. Not everyone is interested in how well you're doing. It's important to learn to celebrate the milestones along the way without relying on others for confirmation that you're doing ok. When the journey is long (I started with 190lbs to lose) this is especially important. Every pound is important to you, but not many others give a crap. And that's ok.
6. It's important to capture your journey as it happens. It is really easy to forget the starting point. Monthly photo comparisons have allowed me to see real progress. Every now and then I will just post my starting point and my latest pictures... the comparisons can be truly mind blowing. It's a great way to see that you are making progress even though the scale is not playing nice. It's a real visual of how far you've already come.
7. You have to laugh at yourself. Often. For me my potty journey has been well documented. I have shared all as part of the complete journey. When you're running to the potty with your cheeks tightly clenched in the hope of making it before embarrassing yourself you have to laugh. This is not an all the time thing. It is not even a "normal" thing for all DSers. It's an occassional "me" thing. But it's something that could destroy your confidence if you allowed it to. I choose to laugh. And work on those kegels for all it's worth!
8. Success is relative. You choose how successful you are. You also choose how your measure success. It's not all about the pounds. Some of my fellow DSers have lost much more than me in similar time frames. They follow all the rules. They exercise. I do not. I eat all my protein. I take all my supplements. I drink all my fluids. Beyond that my diet is normal. I eat ice cream. I eat chocolate. I eat chips. All in small amounts but I eat them. For me success is seeing the pounds come off (this is important to me) but it's also about feeling like I'm not on a diet. Dieting has never worked for me. So I deny myself nothing after I determine that it's something that I really want.
9. Remembering 8 is tough. As my desperate posts about the scale not moving fast enough attest to.
10. You have to do your research before you start this journey. Know what you're getting yourself into and make a commitment to follow the rules. For those that choose the Duodenal Switch the rules are all about supplements, protein and water. None of these are optional. Not to follow these three rules could kill you.
There was much more floating around in my head but as the day edges towards midnight I'm finding it harder to pull it all out of my befuddled brain. My last what I know for sure is simply
11. I am so glad that I had this life saving surgery. I feel better. I look better. I have learned so much about myself. I have met some wonderful people along the way that have made this journey so much richer than had I tried to go it alone. Thank you all for being part of this experience.
What I know for sure:
1. WLS is not the easy way out. It does not allow you to abdicate responsibility for your health. Weight loss does not happen without serious effort on your part. Health does not happen at all if you do not pay attention to the "rules" of your surgery. WLS is hard work. There is not getting off the wagon and putting your head in the sand. The wagon is always with you. As one who likes the feeling of the occasional head in sand session as a method to avoid life's' sucky moments this was a tough one for me. I actually have to deal with stuff rather than eat my way through said stuff. Who would have thunk it?
2. I am stronger than I knew. I have survived many sucky moments in the past nine months without resorting to food. And I am ok. Hmmm...
3. WLS operates on your digestive system not your head. Your head is much more the enemy than any other part of your body. WLS allows you the time to deal with your head without the "all or nothing" approach that many of us super obese people employ.
4. The head stuff is hard and ongoing. I am very prone to head stuff. Comes with the territory of being a 'thinker'.
5. Not everyone is interested in how well you're doing. It's important to learn to celebrate the milestones along the way without relying on others for confirmation that you're doing ok. When the journey is long (I started with 190lbs to lose) this is especially important. Every pound is important to you, but not many others give a crap. And that's ok.
6. It's important to capture your journey as it happens. It is really easy to forget the starting point. Monthly photo comparisons have allowed me to see real progress. Every now and then I will just post my starting point and my latest pictures... the comparisons can be truly mind blowing. It's a great way to see that you are making progress even though the scale is not playing nice. It's a real visual of how far you've already come.
7. You have to laugh at yourself. Often. For me my potty journey has been well documented. I have shared all as part of the complete journey. When you're running to the potty with your cheeks tightly clenched in the hope of making it before embarrassing yourself you have to laugh. This is not an all the time thing. It is not even a "normal" thing for all DSers. It's an occassional "me" thing. But it's something that could destroy your confidence if you allowed it to. I choose to laugh. And work on those kegels for all it's worth!
8. Success is relative. You choose how successful you are. You also choose how your measure success. It's not all about the pounds. Some of my fellow DSers have lost much more than me in similar time frames. They follow all the rules. They exercise. I do not. I eat all my protein. I take all my supplements. I drink all my fluids. Beyond that my diet is normal. I eat ice cream. I eat chocolate. I eat chips. All in small amounts but I eat them. For me success is seeing the pounds come off (this is important to me) but it's also about feeling like I'm not on a diet. Dieting has never worked for me. So I deny myself nothing after I determine that it's something that I really want.
9. Remembering 8 is tough. As my desperate posts about the scale not moving fast enough attest to.
10. You have to do your research before you start this journey. Know what you're getting yourself into and make a commitment to follow the rules. For those that choose the Duodenal Switch the rules are all about supplements, protein and water. None of these are optional. Not to follow these three rules could kill you.
There was much more floating around in my head but as the day edges towards midnight I'm finding it harder to pull it all out of my befuddled brain. My last what I know for sure is simply
11. I am so glad that I had this life saving surgery. I feel better. I look better. I have learned so much about myself. I have met some wonderful people along the way that have made this journey so much richer than had I tried to go it alone. Thank you all for being part of this experience.
posted by Aussieabroad at
10:58 PM
1 Comments:
Wow. Thank you for writing this post. I first read it a couple of days ago and it has stuck with me since then. I will be bookmarking it. #4 and #5 especially speak to me!
By
Tia L., At
7:41 AM
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home