Results Not Typical
People often ask me about my experience with this surgery and I'm only too glad to prattle on and on about it because I consider this a life changing experience. I often redirect people to my blog before really going into detail because everything I say here is usually my initial reaction to a stimulus or feelings on issues as they occur.
Even those that are familiar with the surgery ask how I was able to lose so much weight and not "look sick."
The answer, simply put, was that I a. Committed to losing the weight. In earlier posts I had said that I wanted to lose at least 100 pounds, taking me from 275 to 175, which was my approximate weight from high school. When I attended the informational seminar regarding surgical options, I paid close attention to the success statistics and chose the surgery most closely aligned with my goal. b. Given the success rate of gastric bypass surgery, I knew that I stood to lose at least 70 pounds and that anything was better than nothing, but that I could reach my goal if I incorporated exercise in my routine. Because I was already physically active, I knew that I could come very close to my goal. c. I kept other factors in mind like the fact that you cannot control how much weight you lose, or how fast you lose it. All you can do is exercise and tone your body as you lose.
Depending on how much weight you have to lose, how much you do lose, and how long you've been overweight, you might experience sagging skin. There's really nothing that I've found that solves that problem short of plastic surgery, which may or may not be covered by your insurance. Removing excess skin is considered a medical necessity if it creates other medical problems, like chronic infections.
For me, while I have excess skin, it doesn't cause me problems. I plan of having plastic surgery after I have children. When I thought about the weight gain and skin stretching during surgery, I knew that I didn't want to ruin the results achieved by plastic surgery by stretching out my skin again with pregnancy, so by waiting until after children, I wouldn't be doing any more damage. I also want a breast lift because I lost volume in my breasts with the weight loss, but pregnancy affects your breasts before anything else, so again, waiting was the better option. In the meantime, I can mitigate the effects by toning my arm, legs, and core.
I signed up for a free Weight and Wellness class on campus to try and get help toning my body using the right techniques. The program is being offered by the health services department and the prize for the person who loses the most weight or loses the most inches is a fitbit flex.
Over a year ago, I had this bit of advice pre-surgery. TAKE PICTURES. A lot of overweight people, myself included, don't like to take photos. Thankfully, because I didn't realize I was so grossly overweight, I have plenty.
This is my latest progress picture, which I felt compelled to compose because I just couldn't believe my most recent one!
If you ever feel discouraged when you think about goals that you've set and haven't reached yet, you can always look at your pictures from then to now and pat yourself on the back. The hard part is over and you are headed towards a healthier and happier you.