Six Months

It has been more than a week-and-a-half since my last update, so I need to add something here. This week, I not only had a new baby grandson born (welcome, Greyson!), but I also had my six month "surgiversary" yesterday, and feel a need to give a progress report. I have lost a total of 105.5 pounds, which is 43.5% of my original weight. My weight loss is now averaging 2 pounds a week. My clothing size continues to drop. The clothes I have now, are getting almost too loose to wear - guess it's about time for another DI (that's Deseret Industries, a local thrift store) shopping trip. My hair has stopped falling out, and I hope new hair starts growing back in soon. My health continues to hold good, and my strength and stamina continue to increase. I am still walking on an almost daily basis - no matter what the weather (when I set out on my walk yesterday evening, it was threatening rain and sprinkling a bit; before I arrived back home, the heavens had opened, and I was drenched!). I am gearing up to walk a 5K in the annual Utah Walk From Obesity, which is coming up the middle of October.

As my appetite has picked up a bit and my activity level has increased, I have been able to increase the amount of food I eat at each meal. I am now up to 3-1/2 to 4 ounces of food three times a day - still 70% protein and 30% vegetables, substituting fruit for the veggies a couple of times a week - with a 1-ounce protein snack (usually cheese or nuts) once or twice a day. I can eat basically any kind of protein and any kind of vegetables.

People whom I see on a regular basis have started asking me if I have reached my goal yet. I am getting very close. When I drop another 14 pounds, I will have reached a normal, healthy BMI of 25, and will have lost 50% of my original weight. I want to bring that BMI down to 22.5, which will mean losing an additional 8 pounds after that. So only 22 more pounds will bring me to my goal, which is 52.5% of my original weight gone.

Last Monday, I saw a picture my Mom had taken of her and her children on her 85th birthday, nearly a year-and-a-half ago. As I looked at myself so huge in that photo, I asked "Who is that woman?" My dear sister-in-law replied, "No one we know anymore." And that is really the truth. As I find myself again, I truly do not know who I was as that morbidly obese woman that I had been. I am so grateful for a doctor who said "Do it!" in response to my desperate question, "What do you think about weight loss surgery?", for the surgeon who talked to me about it and performed the surgery and all the follow-up, and for the wonderful family and friends who have supported me all the way. While I had to make the decision to go on this journey, it would have been a much more difficult undertaking to travel the road alone. Thank you all for everything!