So since the world hasn't ended, I thought I'd do my 19 month update.
I have to say my world hasn't changed a whole lot since surgery. Obviously I have lost a lot of weight, but other than that, many things are still the same. I'm still a mom, still married, still work for the same company doing the same job...but everything is SO much easier to deal with.
I no longer worry about what people think of my weight...or trying to prove that once a upon a time I was thin (really! I promise! see, here's a picture of me back in the 90's!). I don't have to worry about trying to fit in a booth, or if I'm trying to squeeze behind someone or something, if I'll fit. I no longer have to buy clothes just because I don't hate the way they make my body look (I actually have choices that make shopping my personal version of hell). I'm no longer the biggest person in the room. My knees and joints don't hurt the way they used to. The only medical condition I had was PCOS (though many were looming) and that has cleared up completely. No more dark patches, a regular cycle, skin tags no longer crop up, no more cystic acne, my two or three chin hairs I had sprouted no longer come in as dark as they once did, and my hair went back to normal after the initial loss from surgery (yes, chances are you will lose hair). No more seat belt extenders on airplanes.
The biggest negative I've had so far is constipation/hemorrhoids from calcium citrate. I still have hemorrhoid issues to this day from that, and I'm sure that I have/have had a fissure. I'm too stubborn to have anyone look at it, so I just treat the symptoms. I've since settled on calcium hydroxyapatite as my calcium of choice after trying several blends and brands. My labs have been fine on it, and I've had no constipation issues from it so I'll stick with it. My D and B has been low, so I've had to work on upping those. I've got some loose skin, a.k.a. batwings that bother me but not enough to do anything about it. My thighs are pretty gross too, but I never show those the way I show my arms. I was getting a manicure the other day and my sweet Vietnamese nail tech got a good kick out of my swinging wings and brought it up to the other nail techs and they all got a good chuckle while she was massaging me. LOL It was like an episode out of Seinfeld.
My diet hasn't changed too much. I focus on protein first (which never was a problem for me anyway, I've always been a meat and cheese girl over bread and sweets), and keep up with my vites and calcium. I pretty much only use the rest room in the morning. My body likes to get me up about 4 am for the first round and then the second round is usually around 8 am and then I'm good for the day. I can have gas issues, and yes, it can peel paint, but it is totally totally totally controllable depending on what I eat. My biggest offending food would have to be cheese puffs. I will only eat these if I know my family will be gone for the night. LOL Also white rice does me in. But really that's about it. I know what not to eat if I'm on a business trip with my boss. I'd say the first 6 months was spent trying out foods and testing them to see how my body reacted and if I didn't know how I reacted to it, I didn't eat it if I wasn't at home.
My starting weight with surgery was 279 (highest being a little over 300), and my lowest was 168. I went from a size 26 bottom, 22/24 on top to a 10/12 on the bottom and a medium top. My feet went from a 9w to a 7 or 7.5 depending on the brand. That's been crazy!
So in other news, I'm 23 weeks pregnant. I was 14 months out when it happened. My surgeon was supportive, but he said he would never want to see it happen any earlier (he prefers 18 months). I just had my second set of labs drawn so I'll know what this little vampire baby is sucking out of me in a week or two. I really haven't gained any weight; both my surgeon and my ob assure me it's fine and that the baby is taking what it needs from me. I had my big ultrasound two weeks ago and everything was right on target with the baby so that made me feel a lot better about not gaining. I eat all the time, all day long but I'm all belly. I really am hoping that I will put on some weight in the back half of this pregnancy.
