8 Weeks

It's been 8 weeks since surgery, 42 pounds gone. One of my co-workers said "it's just melting off of you"... which she meant as a compliment I'm sure, but it felt a bit like her perception was that this is effortless. Nothing could be further from the truth. Yes the surgery gave me tools I didnt have before, but there are still daily challenges. Granted some of those are things I have never worried about in my LIFE, like will a certain food sit well on this day, or REMEMBERING to eat. Who knew THAT would ever be an issue?

The whole "easy way out" thing is the biggest myth out there - that having gastric bypass surgery means weight magically falls off of you with no effort. That is just not the case! While you may lose some weight without exercise, if you want to see real results you have to exercise! I'm up to three miles on my bike, while that's still not all that much, for a person who could not ride a bike for the last five years or so, it's a huge accomplishment. When I rode that three miles... I thought I would just croak as I rode the last little bit up the driveway... as a matter of fact, I slowed to a crawl and due to a lack of momentum, fell over. I probably looked like Artie Johnson on the old Rowan & Martin's Laugh In show... when he fell over sideways with his tricycle... LOL

You also can’t just eat whatever you feel like... as you used to. Eat the wrong thing, eat it too fast, or try to eat too much (even one teeny tiny bite too much) and you'll be miserable. Unhealthy foods can make you quite sick and they will stop weight loss just like they will for anyone else.

Bariatric surgery is a tool, that can help people dedicated to becoming heathier... do so, but it's NOT the easy way out! Okay, I'll step down from my soap box now...