What's Become of Me?

It has been a little while since I last communicated with everyone! I am still alive and kicking and I'm, arguably, the best shape of my life! I have had lots to say over the past however long it's actually been, but every time I got ready to sit down and type it all out, something new would happen and then I would find myself doing a mental elimination process trying to decide if I was going to err on the side of discretion, or if I was going to "let it all hang out so to speak.

It has been a long, hard road for me lately. I am currently struggling with body issues. Part of me wants to feel very proud of myself that I have gone from sized 22 to 24 clothes down to 14 and 16 size clothing. It is a tremendous accomplishment already, and I know that I'm not finished losing weight. One thing that I have tried to stress is that my results are not the same as another person's results after WLS in terms of what makes me sick or doesn't, but that my results are a lot a lot like other people's results in that you're not going to end up with the picture-perfect body. Maybe you will, maybe you won't, but the odds are all whole lot more in favor of you not looking exactly the way you thought you were going to. Some of us have spent years being morbidly obese and others of us have spent less time being morbidly obese. Whether or not our skin snaps back, it remains to be seen until after about a year after surgery. One thing that I'm sure most of us are all very familiar with are stretch marks, bulges in skin, residual love handles, and wings (as I like to call them.) I don't know how many people are following this blog, and I don't know how many times this blog gets accessed through Google results, but in the interest of full disclosure, and in trying to be as transparent as I possibly can be, I am going to post some pictures that some may or may not find attractive. I am doing it because it is important to really be a good resource for weight-loss surgery patients and those considering it.

If you've been reading long enough, you know that discretion is not my forte, by choice.

First, let me start by saying that I am, as of yesterday, down a whopping SEVENTY pounds give or take. My bariatric surgeon has my starting weight at around 275-277, which was my weight when I attended his weight loss seminar and began the hurry-up-and-wait process that many bariatric patients love to hate. So, and we all know how much I love to do the math, that means that I have lost 71-73 pounds, depending on the actual starting weight that was recorded. Out of the 100 pounds that I wanted to lose, that is 71-73% of the weight loss accomplished. Keep in mind that my personal weight loss goal was just to achieve the weight that I was when I graduated high school because I know what I looked like then and I was very well proportioned. I don't believe that the BMI takes in to consideration differences in a woman's physique, and as a black woman, I look best with some "meat" on my body. If we want to measure in terms of excess body weight lost by BMI, then my ideal weight (on the upper side of healthy,) is 150. With 127 lbs to lose then, I have lost 57% of my excess body weight. Of both percentages I am equally proud.

So, back to "letting it all hang out," the world's most apropos pun...

This is my body right now. I am not saying that I am the sexiest thing walking on this earth, but I am saying that I am so proud of myself for making the choice to undergo a very serious surgery and to come out on the other side of it alive and healthy. I am the happiest that I have ever been in my life.