Too easy

I have always been a fast healer. Good, right? Well, of course, but it is sure making this process more challenging in ways I was afraid of when I started.

I honestly had no idea what post-WLS life was going to be like. I didn't even really give it much thought, really, until just right before surgery day. I was so caught up in the preparation that I was kind of distracted. But when I did consider it, the bare truth is that I was hoping, with all my heart, that it would be a difficult time.

That sounds strange, right? But I was so afraid of going through this whole horrid, gut slicing-and-dicing only to wind up with...nothing. I was praying for, not necessarily the pain and vomiting, but I guess I was really hoping for lots of dumping and the tiniest pouch ever, though it scared me a lot to consider. I didn't really trust that I could be successful any other way. I also didn't really start doing any outreach to other WLS patients until about a month before the surgery, so it wasn't until then that I heard many first hand accounts of post-surgery life.

So, here's MY post-surgery reality: I haven't vomited since 2 months post-op. I've never dumped, though I haven't really tested it much -- the most surgary foods I've eaten have been fruit and wine. I have very, very little nausea. I have been able to eat a whole half a sandwich (bread and all!) since about 3-4 months out. I have almost no pain. If I don't monitor myself, I have eaten 1500-1600 calories a day without even thinking about it.

This recovery has been almost too easy. Of course I still have "non-eating" days when Lil Miss Pouch just doesn't want solid foods. In fact, those days are the days when I feel most like a patient of WLS, and they are not infrequent. When my weight loss slowed waaaaay down back in mid-January (with many looooong plateaus) at only almost 4 months out, I had to sit down and think about all of this. That was when I started monitoring more than just protein grams, but calories too. I was shocked at how much I was eating. I had been relying on this magical surgery to keep me on track, as well as the mostly-healthy foods I was eating, for weight loss success. I was also relying on other patients who had said that there was no way I could be eating enough to NOT lose weight at that stage. But, reality -- compared to other post-op people that early out I was positively gluttonous at an average of 1200-1400 calories a day. I started using FitDay.com to track every. single. thing. that goes into my mouth. To get enough protein a day, and to keep my energy up, it has been HARD to keep my daily intake closer to 1200 than 1300 or 1400. But I am definitely more aware and more careful now.

However, the close monitoring must have worked, or the mysteries of the plateaus have evened up enough, that though the weight loss is slow, it is steadier now. I have steadily lost a pound every several days for the last month or so. My numbers make me happy, though they aren't as impressive as many on this site. At 6 months out, I am down 93 pounds.

Woo hoo! How can I not be happy with that? A total of 128 pounds since my pre-op diet. I have 11 pounds to onederland, and 35 to the first major goal I set for myself. I'm not relying on the magical surgery anymore, and that is a realization I had to come to. It is my head that will mean success, not the tool. I've been saying that since the start, but now I BELIEVE it.

But I have to admit that I kinda wish that it hadn't been quite so easy...