1 Year Since Surgery

November 13th was my one year anniversary since surgery. I spent the day enjoying the sunshine of Florida and remembering how far I've come in such a short period of time.

The picture here was taken the day before I left for vacation by my new friend Kimberly of Coombs Photography. Can you believe the transformation I've gone through over the past year. Remember the photo collage that shows my face pictures for the first 6 months of my journey (I'll have to update this with the full 12 months worth of pictures). I'm a new person!

But it's more than just the physical transformation that I see in pictures. I've seen so many other changes in my life too. I'm more confident. I'm happier. I'm more outgoing. I'm more satisfied with myself and the way I come across to other people. I've learned to be more selfish and realize how imporant it is to take care of myself rather than scurrying around doing stuff for everyone else out of guilt or so-called obligation. I'm healthier and more active.

Heck! I can walk 13 miles and still breath - who would have thought? I'm smarter about my body, nutrition and how to live a healthy life. I pay closer attention to what my body and mind is telling me and how I can "feed" myself with something other than food. I am seeking out new friends and experiences and trying to make the changes in my life that I want to see.

There are WOW moments still happening in my life. Just the other day as I was searching through my jewelry box for some earrings, I came across my high school class ring and tried it on. It fit! I just stood there in my bedroom looking down at my hand and grinning like a fool. Silly, small things like that can just make your day, can't they? 


So my official weight loss is a total of 107 pounds. I'm currently stuck at about 192 pounds and the scale keeps teasing me ... up and down with the same 2 or 3 pounds. But I know the scale will move again soon. My tight-ish clothes are fitting looser these days and I'm in the continual mode of packing more things away for charity that don't fit anymore. 


So what about my goal weight? I'm getting close! It's exciting to be so close, actually. My original weight goal is "160-ish" -- which means that as soon as I hit 169, I'll be at goal. That's a mere 23 pounds away. My surgeon's goal of 135 still seems pretty unrealistic to me, but even that is only 58 pounds away. I doubt I'll go all the way down to 135, but once I hit that 169-mark I'll most likely come up with a new goal weight. My initial inclination is leaning toward the 150-mark. But we'll see... 


I have good days and bad days when it comes to eating and exercise. Vacation was not a free-for-all, but I certainly didn't follow my eating plan religiously. Now that I'm back to real life and on a routine, I'm doing much better. I'm seriously slacking in the exercise department and need a swift kick in the butt to get back on track. I want to join a gym and do weight training and maybe take a yoga class. There are a myriad of excuses and reasons that I haven't done it yet... but I need to stop procrastinating and get it done. I do fairly well with my vitamins and supplements most days. Weekends are still tough for me and following a strict routine on Saturday and Sunday is difficult. I need to buckle down and figure out a way to make weekends work better for me. I also need to figure out how to get that 4th dose of calcium in every single day instead of only about 50% of the time. 
There's definitely room for improvement, but overall I do pretty well. 


There are still some areas of my "health" that I want to work on. Remember that Comprehensive Holistic Wellness Plan? I've got some things to work through with those goals. I'd like to sit down with my journal and figure out which goals I've met and which ones still need work. Going back to college in January is a major goal I plan to hit, but I need to get my act together or I'll miss the registration deadline again. Updates on that to come... 


I'm truly amazing and feel so blessed to have to many new friends and avid supporters in the bariatric community. I checked my blog statistics earlier today and I was amazed at the traffic this site gets. So many people read what I say --- I assume that ya'll are reading anyway. LOL! The support and encouragement I get from my friend on http://www.obesityhelp.com/ and from the support groups I attend is truly inspiring to me. How does anyone make this WLS journey without such a strong and faithful circle of friends? I am blessed. 


Thank you all for being here to cheer me on. You mean the world to me!


~Pam