4 month surgiversary

Well it has been almost 4 months since my surgery. In some ways I am disappointed with my progress and in other ways I can't believe how far I've come. I'm down 65 lbs and I'm comfortably wearing almost all size 16 pants and size L/XL shirts.  I even dared buy some size 14 pants which I anticipate fitting into soon. I saw a cute sleeveless dress/jacket combo at Goodwill, size 10 and in a moment of rashness I bought it. And while I can fit into it, it's unflatteringly tight at the waist. It'll be quite a while before I would actually wear it anywhere, but still it was kind of a thrill to actually stand there wearing a size 10 anything.

For a while, I was exercising every day and got up to the 5th week of the couch to 5k program. Then I went back to work and the exercise went by the wayside. I'm really hoping to get back into the routine very soon as I know I felt a lot better when I was exercising every day. The skin issue sucks a bit, my flappy arms are not pretty nor are the wrinkly thighs very attractive. However, I wouldn't trade back for anything.

Eating-wise, I'm doing pretty good. I haven't found much that disagrees with me. That said, I have not been super adventurous because I'm trying to stay committed to the party line, i.e. high protein, low carb, lots of fluids. Of course I can still only eat small quantities. Sometimes its hard for me to finish a single scrambled egg and other times I can eat a bit more.

Overall I'm feeling really good and energetic. This next week I will get my first set of labs and then I will see what adjustments I need to make to Vitalady's basic DS plan.

One week later

Just a week ago I was crowing about the fact that I could fit into size 18. And then I decided on a whim to try on a pair of size 16 capris. And wouldn't ya know, they fit. Perfectly. So then I tried on a 2nd pair of 16s. They fit too but give me more of a muffin top than I would like so I'm not going to say I'm an actual size 16 just yet. Still, I went out and about today rocking that first pair of 16s.

Size 18 baby!

My teenage daughter who was a bit overweight recently lost some weight and donated all her size 18 pants to me. They've been sitting in a pile in my closet.
I also had gotten some sz 18 dress pants at a thrift store last week, I wasn't going to buy them, but they were only $1 so I said what the hell. So I see them sitting there, and I decide to see how close they would come to fitting. They looked impossibly small, but somehow, they went on with ease and fit perfectly. So with some trepidation, I looked at the pile of jeans, thinking these are probably not going to fit, the other pair was just a fluke. But once again, those jeans slid right on, zipped and buttoned up with no problems. And they were comfy! Naturally, I then had to try on the whole stack of jeans. And they *all* fit! How is this even possible? Less than 3 months ago, I was wearing tight 24/comfy 26 sizes. And now I'm in an 18??
It's so strange because when I look in the mirror I don't see a lot of change. My thighs look as lumpy and dumpy as ever and the booty looks large enough to knock down a house.

11 weeks

Even though I've read plenty of stories about early stalls and lots of advice not to worry about it, it was nearly impossible for me not to stress when the scale stopped moving for about 3 weeks. The 2 lbs I wrote about in my last post would just not go away, nor would any of their friends! Finally I think my body gave in and started losing again. I lost those 2 lbs and 8 more within a week, so that puts me at 54 lbs down in 11 weeks. I'm hoping to be down 6 more lbs by the 13th, which is my 3 month surgiversary. However, other than eating the DS way (i.e. protein over 100 g/carbs around 50g/plenty of fluids), I think I've learned it's not really within my control. I just have to trust in the process. Many people apparently do lose lbs in chunks, and it seems to be true for me right now as well.

2 months out

It's been two months since surgery and things are going pretty well. The memories of the early pain and discomfort are starting to fade and I feel about 95% recovered. I still have an occasional moment where I feel like crap but those moments are really few and far between.
My weight loss has been slow the last month. I'm trying not to stress about it too much but it seems to be ever present on my mind. Mind you, I'm down 46 lbs in two months and I guess that's not too shabby. Still, I've been up and down the same 2 lbs for the last 10 days so it's really annoying.
I went to a thrift store and got some new clothes and it was exciting to get shirts 2-3 sizes smaller and pants 2 sizes smaller. That made me feel better about the stubborn scale.
I'm tracking everything in My Fitness Pal so I can make sure I'm staying around 50 carbs and getting in over 100g of protein a day. Some days I don't make that goal, either one. Yesterday was a particularly tiny tummy day and I only got in about 50g of protein. Later in the evening I felt a bit hungry and decided to eat a bit more of the chicken thighs we'd had for dinner. Big mistake. That chicken only stayed in my tummy for about 10 minutes before it made a hasty exit. Still, I'm lucky since that's the first time I've vomited since surgery.
I also started seriously exercising about 2 weeks ago. Every day I try to do a little something, and I also started the Couch to 5k program. I finished the 2nd week of the program today but I feel a bit daunted about the 3rd week. I might wait a couple more days to start the next one. Every week, the running times double. This 2nd week, the running times were 1.5 minutes interspersed with 2 minutes walking. So next week, it would be intervals of 3 minutes running. Since I barely made it through the 90 seconds, I think I might have to do a remedial second week before attempting the 3 minute run. I know that doesn't sound like much, but for someone who hasn't seriously exercised in a long time, it is a big deal.
There's no question I could not have done this 46 lbs ago, I feel a whole new energy that I didn't have before.