Tuesday Thoughts

I've been all over the boards for the last few days and have seen a couple of trends that make me happy, as well as a couple that make me sad.

Happy is seeing people recommit to their goals. Folks are doing liquid diets to break stalls. They are adding in exercise and more of it and I'm seeing so many people post their before and after pictures. It's inspiring and thrilling to see folks getting to their personal goals.

What doesn't make me happy, though, is seeing how judgmental we can all be. Someone posts a picture of a meal and others have to jump on the person. I've seen comments ranging from "You can't eat that!" to "That's not allowed!"  Really, folks? A sleever can eat anything they want to eat. I have always allowed myself to eat whatever I want on holidays. I actually ate a tiny slice of pecan pie on Easter! Oh, the horror!

Truthfully, I don't eat too much junk on a regular basis, but I didn't have this surgery to deprive myself forever.  I had this surgery to LIVE. Unless I see someone saying they eat bread every day and drink nothing but soda, I'm not going to comment on someone else's diet unless they specifically ask "What could be causing me to stall?"

Most of us have enough issues without someone tearing us apart because we eat red meat, or because we don't eat red meat.

I'd love to see the WLS community learn to be much more supportive of one another. Boy, would that be something to write home about! :)

Temperature

So, yesterday was interesting. I spent most of it huddled inside asking myself if I really live in South Florida! It was 63 degrees when I got up. I know that those who live anywhere else in the country are thinking that's a beautiful temperature, but that's COLD to Floridians. Monday it was 86 degrees here, so 63 is a big drop in temperature and I actually wore sweat pants, socks, and a long sleeved shirt most of the day.

Since my WLS, I've been cold anyway. Apparently ghrelin is partly responsible for regulating the body's temperature and mine has been out of whack ever since my Sleeve. Almost all of my clothes are long sleeved these days and I prefer long pants unless it's around 90 degrees outside. Forget going into a doctor's office or hospital! I need a winter coat for those places.

I have noticed that I don't feel as cold when I make sure I take my vitamins, so that's one of my primary resolutions this year. I'm working to make sure I get my vitamins in every day and I'm trying to eat a bigger variety of fruits and vegetables.

Time for me to find a pair of socks and get to work for the day.

Well, the scale was nice to me two days in a row! I'm down yet another pound. Of course, today I think it might be because I didn't drink enough water yesterday. I still struggle for that 64 ounces every day, but I'm very creative about drinking it.

I have to confess that I do have diet coke a couple of times a week. There's one sitting beside the keyboard as I type this. However, I'm nowhere near as addicted as I was pre-surgery. I've already had a 17 ounce bottle of water and two cups of decaf coffee this morning, then I ran out to a customer who offered me an ice cold bottle of diet coke. Yummy. I know that means I have to drink an extra bottle of water to make up for the soda, but that's worth it, in my opinion.

I'm adding a new picture to the blog today. This was taken a few days ago and I think it shows a lot about how far I've come in my journey... both in terms of weight loss and in terms of how happy I am normally.

Loving life and looking forward to what's coming next! :)

Lunar Eclipses and Life

So many people were talking about the Lunar Eclipse last night on FB that I really wanted to stay up and watch it. However, I hit my wall around 1 am and didn't actually get to see it. I'm enjoying all the pictures this morning, though, so it's all good.

The scale gave me another present this morning, another pound gone. It's amazing to me that all I had to do was commit again to drinking my water, moving more, and sleeping enough (see above paragraph) and the weight is coming off again. Of course, the weight loss now is not as rapid as it was early post op, but I still have my tool and it still works!

I'm 2 years and 8 months post op and STILL learning things about my sleeve! It's a great feeling to get up knowing that my sleeve is going to help me prevent regain and, when I forget, my sleeve is going to restrict my eating anyway.

Where have I been while I wasn't blogging... hmmmm, let's see. I'm self-employed and I was extremely busy for a few months last year. SO busy, in fact, that I didn't do any sewing or gardening, which are my two favorite hobbies. As of January, work slowed down so much that I have actually considered a "real job", but that hasn't panned out yet either. Right now, I feel like the universe, God, or karma (whichever you believe in) is sending me in a completely new direction, but I haven't figured out quite yet what that direction may be.

While I was walking this morning I was thinking about my next venture and I've come to the conclusion that I am going to work all the angles that are open to me right now and see which one bubbles to the top. Sometimes all I can do is let go of the control and see what happens.

So, here's a breakdown of what I'm working on, both at home and out in the big, bad world:

Sewing. I've always sewn as a hobby and lately I've been really into making purses, wallets, and baby stuff. Did I mention that I have a new grandson? He's definitely inspired me to make lots of things... blocks and bibs and baby quilts. I'm head over heels in love with him and that IS a new Granny talking!

Gardening. Everywhere I've lived I've had some kind of garden. I got away from it for about 18 months after my WLS because it was so hard for me to process raw veggies and I ate so little of them that it didn't seem worth my time to grow vegetables. However, I missed having my hands in the dirt regularly, so I have planted a container garden, plus a couple of flower beds. I'm starting small, just radishes, tomatoes, green beans, peas, squash and some herbs for now, but I may add more later.

 I've discovered that I love lightly steamed veggies. More importantly, my sleeve loves them as well. I may only be able to eat a very few at a time, but it's nice to go to the fridge and pull out two or three steamed green beans when I'm hungry. I also planted a flat of lettuce mix inside and I love cutting a small handful of that to use as a salad or to eat alongside my protein. Yummy!

Karaoke. This is a big one for me.  As an adjunct to the year of therapy I did after my WLS, my therapist asked me to find a way to be more social. I've always been outgoing, kind of the life of the party type. What she wanted from me, though, was to learn how to interact with people without having to make myself the butt of jokes. We have all had one, or been one, you know... the fat person who is always making others laugh while poking fun at themselves. What I had to learn was to interact with people socially without picking on myself. That's where karaoke came in for me. 

I sang "Delta Dawn" (very badly) for my debut at karaoke. My hands shook, my voice shook, and I wanted to crawl under the table... then everyone applauded me. The KJ (karaoke jockey) gave me some encouraging words and I had the nerve to get up and sing again... and again... and again. After doing it for over a year, I'm pretty comfortable at it now. I have been told a few times that people like my voice and I even won a karaoke contest at the local bar! I don't flatter myself that I'm great, but I am okay at it.

Oh, and the biggest thing is that I'm no longer making jokes at my own expense. I have other things I can talk to people about when I'm out and other connections with people socially. THAT was my therapist's goal.

I guess the lesson here for me and for other post-WLS people is that eventually our weight becomes a secondary issue in our lives, whether we reach goal or not. For so long it seemed to be all consuming... worrying about the number on the scale, measuring my food, being totally obsessed with every aspect of my "food life". Now I'm learning the long-term requirements of WLS. I have always said I had this surgery to LIVE and now I'm learning how to live with my surgery. The tool is there and now I'm learning how to adapt my lifestyle and hobbies to my new normal.

Overall, that's a great thing. I'm still on MY journey, but I'm finding that I (still) love the journey.

So, I've been the WORST blog host ever!  I let life get in the way of my posts and I decided that it's time to get back on my horse, so to speak.

To update the two of you who still follow me, I've moved back to my hometown and my business is in the process of reinvention. I haven't regained much weight (about 20 pounds), but I don't want to start down that slippery slope, especially as I never made it to my goal weight.

However, changes are happening here and I have committed to my diet and exercise plan all over again and dropped 17 pounds with very little effort. Gee, this is supposed to be hard, right? It is and it isn't... and that's the thing no one ever tells you.

WLS (weight loss surgery) gives you a tool that is good forever. But that tool is only as good as how you use the tool. If I give you a power saw and you try to cut wood without plugging it in, then it's going to be really hard to cut the wood. That's where I'm at right now. I'm working hard to plug my power saw in and use it properly. Of course, in my case, the power saw is my sleeve.

I have been really bad about not drinking my water and about allowing carbs back into my diet. As of about a week ago, I have started meeting my water goal again and simple carbs are out!